Symbiotic Darkness
by badliar 2312
Summary: A story of a boy and his symbiotic Grimm becoming partners through mutual reciprocation. Jaune wants to become strong despite his family's lack of support while a unique sentient amorphous Grimm needs a perfect host it finds in Jaune and can give him what he wants most. Together, they will become a Bane, a lethal Venom to the other Grimm. AU
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer:** I don't own the original stories/sources.

 **Prologue: The Empowering Darkness**

With a wooden sword in his right hand and a wooden triangular shield in his left, he walked on his family's green garden bordered by the nearby forest, away from the three-story house behind him and toward the big wooden pole with smaller poles dotted all over its surface that made it look like 'branches'. It was mid-afternoon and the house was unoccupied save for him, a rare chance for him to train.

Clad in a white tanktop and a pair of blue sweatpants, he... Well, he was not someone who would make anyone bat an eye. Sure, he was tall for his age at 5 foot 8 inches (172 centimeters), but he was lanky, not much fat in his body and not much muscle either, he was the very definition of a wimp.

Wishing to change this was one of the reasons why he was now here, standing in front of a rotating pole separated into four sections with 'branches' all over each sections. "...Hah!" He started with attacking one of the branch, prompting the section to rotate and send a branch located on the opposite side but at a lower angle compared to the branch that he attacked to swing toward him. He blocked said branch with the shield, repelled it with a swing which prompted another branch to strike him at a different angle and he gritted his teeth as it hit him.

He stopped, took a step back, moved his right arm in a circular motion, testing it out "...Alright." and once he felt like he could still go on, he stepped forward and re-do it again. Strike, block and parry and then... "Hah!" He used his sword to block the strike, swung to push it off and blocked another strike... "Hm!" Then he continued on.

Attack, block and parry then another block and parry, he continued to do this until... "Agh!" Once again, he was hit and this time it was his leg. The lower section rotated and hit him right on the shin. "Crap!" He hissed as he took a step back. He lifted his right leg a bit to bleed off the tension on his feet and took a few deep breaths and slow exhalations. "...Ugh!" He gritted his teeth as he then stepped forward... "Raaagh!" and began it all over again.

It was the same routine as before, attack, block and parry followed by another block and parry and so on and so forth but this time, he added lifting his leg to dodge whenever the lower section of the rotating pole swung at him. Attack, block and parry, block and parry, dodge, attack, block and parry, block and parry, so it went on and on...

He continued to do so, his skin pouring out sweat that soaked the clothes that he was wearing and he didn't stop for a second now. "Argh!" His leg got hit but he batted the branching pole with a kick and hastily block and parried the incoming attack from the opposite side and continued his barrage. "Rrragh!" Another hit, this time on his arm... and he continued to attack the pole, ignoring the pain, fighting through them.

The sound of thick wooden branch poles hitting flesh and bones echoed but he ignored them just the same as he ignored the pain that kept building up and up through sheer will fueled by the fire that built up in his chest, stomach and spine.

"...une?"

He kept on attacking and blocking but as it went on, he began to block less and less. The pain kept mounting up and up but he fought through it.

"...aune!"

He gritted his teeth and ignored how tired he was becoming. His breath was getting shallower and shorter and it didn't help that the strikes against his body was making it worse but he continued to attack and attack...

"Jaune!"

He turned, his concentration broken and a thick wooden pole struck his head. "Agh!" The pain on his legs made him wobble and he fell to the ground knees first. "Aaaaah...!"

"You idiot...!" He heard his eldest sister's voice along with the sound of footsteps coming closer to his position. "You absolute idiot, what are you doing...?!" He saw, in his field of view, a set of blue high-heeled shoes. "Let me see!"

He looked up and saw his eldest sister's face framed with the bangs of her blonde hair that was styled into a tight bun on the back draping down the sides of her face. Her green eyes were blazing as she grabbed his shoulders and pulled him up. "Sis, I-"

"How many times have I told you? Don't train without supervision!"

"I-I didn't think you'd be back so soon, Artie..."

"Thank goodness I did, all these bruises...! Gods, you..." She pulled him up, "C'mon, let's-!"

"Aagh!" Jolts of pain on his legs and feet shot up as he stood up prompted him to let out a scream.

"S-sorry sorry!" She put him down, this time on his butt. She pulled up the lower edges of his sweat pants and hissed. "...This looks bad... Stay here Jaune, I'll get some balms and bandages...!"

He saw his sister's back as she sprinted toward their house. She was still wearing her 'work clothes' that consisted of a form-fitting, long-sleeved blue suit with yellow accents that had coattails that went down to her knees completed with a pair of blue leggings that started from her thighs down to her feet that were plated with silver greaves and a high-heeled armored shoes.

"...Haaah..." he lied down on his back against the ground and looked up at the blue sky. He was starting to feel pain all over his body now that he was no longer in the moment and winced. "...Ugh." He closed his eyes and took a few deep breaths and slowly exhaling to stop focusing on the pain.

He was still shitty. His strikes were subpar, his reaction time was abysmal and while his pain threshold is acceptable, he didn't have the durability to tank out hits.

And the worst part? He still didn't manage to unlock his power, his Aura. Was he not in enough pain already? Was it not enough to trigger his Aura to burst out? Did he need to do more? He felt shitty already with how much pain he was in now but was it not enough? What should he do...?

"Ugh..." It was the only way to unlock his Aura without his parents' help. He had read enough books on Aura to know the cases where a person's Aura is unlocked in a near-death situation. It was rare and as such, it involved a _lot_ of luck. He thought that he could unlock it himself as long as he trained and push himself to exhaustion, but...

"...Next time. Next time for sure." He didn't know what else to do and he had no one to turn to. He wanted help but his parents wouldn't let his sisters and he knew no other person who had Aura outside his family. This was the only thing he could do... If only his eldest sister understood... If only his _sisters_ understood...

"...Hm?" Something just touched him. It wasn't his sister, he would've heard her voice and footsteps first. No, it felt like... "Water...?" It felt like some sort of liquid that was soaking his right arm. He opened his eyes, turned his head to where the feeling came from... and saw nothing. However... "...The water's moving...?" Now it was beneath him, soaking his tanktop. His arm was dry though, so... "Huh...?" He tried to push himself up... "N-nggh...? I can't get up...?" He pushed harder with his hands... and he still couldn't push himself up. "H-huh...? What the...?"

"-honestly, you are so stupid!"

He turned his head to see what was in front of him and saw his sister coming with a first aid kit box. She walked toward him at a brisk pace before she stopped right beside him and knelt down. "What were you thinking? Were you even _thinking_?" She grabbed him by his back and pulled him up.

'...Huh?' _Now_ he could sit up. What was... ?

"Raise your arms." She said as she lifted his arms up and with a quick tug, she pulled off his white tanktop, threw it to the side and looked over him. "Good grief..." She opened up the first aid kit, took out a small box of a brand of a healing balm, opened it, coated her fingers with the thick white balm and began to rub it on his bruises, starting from the ones on his right arm.

"Agh...!"

"Just bear it. It's your own fault, you know. Be glad that I'm not Flora, she won't have mercy on you." She said and he couldn't help but to wince. It was true, he _did_ do this to himself and that Flora would be much worse. "I've told you time and time again, you can't just tire and hurt yourself and expect to improve. It's not healthy or even helpful."

He kept his mouth shut. Here was another lecture and he was ready to tune it out.

"Jaune, listen to me." His sister then began to move to the bruises on his chest. "You can't keep doing this to yourself."

He grimaced as the balm began to make the skin on his right arm feel hot. But he fought through the feeling and said; "You know I have to."

Her hand stopped rubbing a particularly big bruise on his chest for a moment before she resumed. "...Getting hurt like this won't trigger it, Jaune. You need-"

He scowled as he interrupted her; "You don't know that." It was so easy for his sister to say what he 'needed' to do instead of doing this, but she already had her Aura unlocked. She didn't know how much he had to struggle. "Mom unlocked your Aura, remember? You don't know whether or not this will work."

"Jaune, this will kill you before it'll unlock your Aura."

"And how would you know that?"

"The chance of unlocking your Aura by hurting yourself silly is slim, you know tha-"

"It's better than asking you or anyone else in this house."

"And hurting yourself like this is better?!"

"Of course it is!"

"It's not, Jaune! This won't unlock your Aura, the chance of that happening is-!"

"You don't know that!"

"I _do_ know it! I've read the same books you did, it's rare for someone to unlock their Aura by themselves, it only happens in a near-death situation and this isn't-!"

"Well then maybe I should just go out to the Wilds and hope for the best! Maybe that's what our parents want! They want me to die trying!"

Her sister stopped her treatment and went silent for a while. He said it. He said it to her face and now she was looking at him with eyes wide and her mouth slightly agape. Then, she scowled. "JAUNE JOHNSON ARC!"

"WHAT?! YOU KNOW THAT I'M THE WEAK LINK IN THIS FAMILY! EVEN JEANNE HAS HER AURA UNLOCKED BEFORE ME AND SHE'S MY YOUNGER TWIN!"

She flinched and grimaced. "T-that's different-!"

"HOW?! HOW IS IT DIFFERENT?!"

She bit her lip, tears were coming out of her eyes but he didn't care for it, he felt heat coursing through his veins. All the frustrations he felt... They were all coming out. "HOW?!"

"I DON'T KNOW! OKAY?! I DON'T KNOW! BUT OUR PARENTS HAVE THEIR REASONS! THEY LOVE US ALL, JAUNE AND-!"

"IF THEY DO LOVE US ALL THEN WHY THE FUCK ARE THEY NOT HELPING ME?!"

He gritted his teeth as he pushed his sister off of him and stood up before taking a couple of steps back. The anger made him feel less of the pain. It was still there but it had been dulled. "They left me to unlock my Aura on my own, Arturia. They refused to unlock mine but they did the same with you, Liz, everyone else _but_ me. They wanted me to do it myself, said it will be better for me but they didn't want to say how or why."

His sister stood up and slowly walked toward him, "They have their reasons, Jaune, you must understand tha-"

"I'M THEIR SON!" He stopped her in her tracks. "I'm their son... Their child." He narrowed his eyes at her, at her _perfection_ that she naturally exuded even as she was starting to cry. "But maybe I'm just not good enough for them." He shook his head and walked toward the house, away from his eldest sister. He didn't hear her following. Good. He didn't want to talk to her.

"Jaune...? Jaune?! Jaune!" He didn't look back. He didn't want to acknowledge that he heard her calling for him. She wasn't really listening to what he was saying, there was nothing to talk about with her. She didn't understand. She wouldn't understand.

He went to the second floor, right to his room and locked the door. He then walked to his bed, plopped down on it with his back first, crossed his arms and closed his eyes.

"Jaune?" Right on cue. Not even half a minute passed and there she was, right outside his room, calling his name and knocking on the wooden door. "Jaune, can you please come out? I still need to treat your bruises."

He was fine. Hell, he didn't even feel the pain anymore. He kept his mouth shut and rolled over to his side.

"Jaune, please come out. We need to talk about this."

There was nothing to talk about. She would never understand, none of his sisters could. They were loved, their parents paid attention to them while he... He just existed, present, nothing more, a decor would be paid more attention compared to how much his parents gave a damn about him.

"Jaune? Jaune!"

He remained silent and not long afterward, so did his sister. She gave up very easily it seemed... But he knew her well to know that was simply not her style. "Arturia, I have a scissor in my hand. If you break my door down to drag me out, I promise you that I will try to kill myself to get my Aura unlocked."

There was silence for a moment... And then her sister's voice came through again. "Fine... Just... please drop the scissors."

"Not until you promise me that you won't break my door down."

"I... I promise."

"Promise on your life."

"I promise on my life that I won't break your door down."

"Good. Now leave me alone."

"Jaune!"

"Leave me ALONE, SIS!"

"Ugh! FINE!"

He heard his sister stomping away down the hallway outside and the staircase and finally, he could relax. It seemed that he had been training for far longer than he thought and that the adrenaline had now been thoroughly exhausted as he felt himself getting sleepy.

He didn't fight the drowsiness nor did he try to keep himself awake as he closed his eyes himself. He needed to sleep, to get away from his sister's nagging.

Darkness consumed his vision as he fell asleep. For a moment, there was nothing, he saw, heard and felt nothing. He didn't even exist within this darkness, this dreamless sleep...

 _Hello..._

A voice echoed within the dark nothingness. It was the voice of an adult woman with a deep voice, distorted and warped to the point that it sounded like the rumbling of a monster. A feminine female monster, but still a monster.

 _Jaune... It... rolls off the tongue... Loved by the ladies..._

The voice seemed to know his pick-up line somehow, the one that he learned from reading cheesy romance novels that one of his sisters liked to read.

 _Sorry for intruding... But I will be in your care from now on... As will you be in mine._

The voice didn't seem to make sense. What was it... Wait. Was he really dreaming?

 _You're not._

He struggled against invisible restraints that felt like they were wrapped all over his body. Sleep paralysis? He had experienced that once before, it wasn't pleasant and neither was this. He couldn't breathe, he needed to breathe but his body was slow to respond even though his mind was already halfway awake. Awake! Awake!

 _Allow me._

Suddenly, he could open his eyes on his own and the first thing he did was to take a deep breath... "N-ngggaaahhhh...!" and let out a his body shook. He felt... soaked. Why did he feel so soaked? He rubbed his tanktop and found that it has been drenched in... "U-uugh..." His sweat. And it was quite smelly too...

 _Shall I take care of that?_

"H-huh?" The voice echoed inside his head. It wasn't coming from an outside source and went through his ears to reach his brain first, it bypassed an important step to reach his brain, how the-?

He stopped as he felt something writhing on his skin, accompanied by a sound that reminded him of the sound of high pressure of water with high viscosity churning through the tube of a metal pipe. Looking down, he saw that some... churning black mass were writhing and moving all over him, on his skin out his tanktop and everything. "W-what the-?!"

 _Calm down._

"C-calm..." Slowly, he felt less and less soaked as the black mass consumed his sweat. "T-the fuck...?"

 _I'm drying your clothes.  
_

"Uh... T-thanks?" He didn't know if that was what he should say, but... "W-what are... W-who am I talking to? Are you inside my head? Is this black mass... you?"

 _Yes. I am what you call a Grimm._

His eyes went wide. "T-THE FUC-!" The black mass latched onto his mouth and filled it up until it was close to the opening of the throat. "N-Nggggggggghhh!"

 _Hey hey, let me explain myself first. I'm not like those other Grimm._

"NNNNNNGGG!" Was all that he said with his mouth while his mind said... 'Yeah, I bet you say that to all the guys you get inside of."

 _You're my first actually._

'Oh I feel so special... And so used!' Really though, this thing got inside of him and even though it had the voice of a woman, it still sounded so warped that it reminded him that this was a monster of some sort, a Grimm. 'Get the hell out of me!' he grabbed on the black mass and began to pull.

 _I can't! We're already bonded deep enough to talk mentally!_

'Oh screw this!' Not only did he have a bad day, but now it was made worse by the fact that a Grimm got into his body. 'If I can do _something_ right for once, then I'm taking you with me!'

 _W-wait, don't-!_

He ran toward the window and the Grimm began to wrap his head with its black mass. "MNNNNNN!" He clawed and felt out the window before finding the lever, which he immediately pulled down.

 _Listen to me, damn it!_

He didn't respond to whatever the Grimm had to say, he didn't _have_ to. He reached out to the window, pulled it open and took a leap out. "NNNNNNNNNNNGGGGG!" Midair, the black mass wrapped itself all over his body, making a cocoon that cushioned his fall onto the hard ground. "MMM!" he landed and bounced once before landing again, all of this happened without even a faint sound.

 _Calm the FUCK down!_

"MMMMNNNNNGGGGGG!" Translation: 'Like hell I can calm down! You're a Grimm and you're inside my head! You're trying to take control of me, don't you?!'

 _I mean you no harm! Seriously!_

'Like I can believe a Grimm!' He said before he began to writhe and struggle inside the cocoon.

 _Ugh! Fine, let's take this somewhere else!_

From the underside of the cocoon, a lot of insect legs, each being the average size of a human's index finger, popped out and with tiny cricketing noise, they moved. 'Where are you taking me?!'

 _Somewhere where we won't be disturbed! You're such a handful! Then again, that's why you're the most appropriate one for me so I guess I'll have to live with it._

'Let me go!'

 _Give me a chance at least, okay?! I need you, I don't want to kill you even though you're making this difficult!_

He resisted still but... Even though the voice in his head was quite monstrous, it was talking to him just like how any normal human being would talk. 'Then let me the fuck go first before you talk!'

 _And let you just run off before I can explain myself?! Just stay still!_

'I promise I won't run!'

 _Can you promise on your life?_

'...'

 _THEN SHUT UP AND JUST STAY STILL FOR A SECOND!_

"MNNNNNNNNNNNGGGGG!"

 _UGH!_

He tried to fight the whole way, never stopping his struggle, never letting up but he was not powerful enough to break free of the cocoon. He was helpless but that didn't mean that he would continue to fight to try and break through.

Then, after what felt like a long time, the cocoon stopped walking and it broke down, freeing him from its cage and he fell back-first on the ground, looking up... at the dark blue of the early evening sky. "I-it's already night? The hell..."

 _You've slept for quite a while._

"Ah. Right." He must've been tired... Or... "Was that your doing too?" Looking at what was around him, he found only trees and the shadow cast by the canopy of the leaves of said trees above as the moonlight set the night alight with its dim lighting.

 _Kind of. You were already tired, I just subtly urged you to sleep so that I can link our minds together._

"Yeah, about that... When did that happen? I don't remember being _invaded_ by a Grimm or even attacked by one."

 _I've been watching you for a few days now but I didn't bond to you until recently, just a few hours ago in fact._

"A few hours ago...?" he frowned as he narrowed his eyes, looking at nothing in particular. What happened a few hours ago? "I was training and..." When did the Grimm...? "...Ah, that wet, sticky feeling, that was you?"

 _Yeah. You were very troubled, very vulnerable, it was my chance._

"Hey hey, do you really mean no harm?"

 _I am!_

"Somehow I don't really believe that. Hell, I have no reason to believe you."

 _Okay okay, let's... Let's do a re-do, how can I prove myself to you?_

...The question rendered him silent for a moment. The Grimm was _asking_ him how he would be able to prove itself to him. It _asked_ him. It wanted his input. "...I don't know." Being put on the spot like this made his mind go blank, "But still, what-?"

He heard it first, the sound of a growling beast followed by the faint sound of its light steps as its limbs were pressed onto the soft grass on the ground. The sound was unmistakably that of a predator, but... If this forest was around his home, then it should be free of _natural_ predators.

 _Jaune, there's a Beowolf right behind you._

'I noticed.'

 _Your hearing has gotten sharper, good, that means our bond is becoming stronger, we are getting more synchronized._

'You're already in my head, how stronger can it get?'

 _Much stronger. Now, I've already unlocked your Aura, but-_

"Wait, what?!" A Grimm unlocked his Aura?! How the hell did that even wo-?!

 _Duck!_

He fell into a prone position as the big form of the black Beowolf soar above him and landed a few feet away. Looking up, he saw that the Beowolf was on all fours as it glared at him with its red eyes and its fangs bared. Even on all fours, it was at least his size and a half and then there were its sharp teeth and claws...!

 _Your Aura is unlocked but you can't fight well yet. Allow me to prove myself!_

He felt the black liquid-like mass of the Grimm that had become a part of him emerged and began to envelop him within it. It clung to him, pressing itself close to his skin and clothes and covering him from top to bottom with what felt like second skin. Looking down at his hands, he saw that it has been blackened, "W-what...?"

The Beowolf lunged... yet it did so slowly. So slow that it got him captivated...

 _Dodge!_

His eyes widened and he rolled out of the way just as the Beowolf missed his mark again. He stood up, looked down at himself and saw that he was... He looked like he was wearing a skin-tight onesie colored in black made out of material that gleamed a bit under the moonlight. "W-what the...? Is this you?" He reached up and began to roam his hands all over his head... and he felt not skin nor hair but a mask of some sort that covered it all up.

 _Yes. Now let's fight that Beowolf._

"...Okay." Somehow, he felt like he could do it. Being covered in this strange Grimm Suit made him feel strong. Capable. "You know, that slowing down time thing... Does that mean I'm faster now?"

 _Faster, stronger, you are better than you used to be in almost every physical aspect. And it isn't just me that's doing this, it's your Aura. You have **so** much of it and the nature of it... You are quite powerful, Jaune._

He smiled. There it was. The validation of his existence, acknowledgement of his talent... And it came from a Grimm of all things. It was a Grimm who helped him become more, not his parents, not his sisters... But this Grimm. "Thanks."

 _You're welcome. Now, let's show this guy how much he messed up, shall we?_

The Beowolf lunged at him again. Time slowed down as he dodged to the side, caught it by its outstretched right arm and he swung him like a bat before letting go, sending it flying to a nearby tree with a sickening crack that would've broken an Aura-less man's spine.

He stomped and dashed toward the Beowolf, swung and punched the Beowolf's head, caving its snout in and cracking the tree trunk right behind it. It slumped to the ground, motionless, soundless, lifeless.

"...I did it." His first Grimm kill... "But that... that was too easy, wasn't it?"

 _It was just a lone Beowolf, nothing more than fodder._

"Yeah, but even so... How strong does _that_ make me...?" Looking down at the Grimm corpse, he saw that it was beginning to crumble away into ashes like it's supposed to. "Hm?" The right arm of his... Grimm Suit, morphed itself into a mass of tendril that extended itself down and latched onto the slowly crumbling Beowolf. The black mass swirled and warped around as it enveloped the Beowolf.

Then came the sound of... gnashing, if he could describe it as that, that came from within the enveloped Beowolf. It lasted for only a few seconds before the tendrils retreated and morphed back into his right arm... "...Um... did you just _eat_ that Beowolf?"

 _And digest it to make more materials for us to use._

"...Why did you eat one of your own?"

 _...I'm not them anymore. I'm yours._

...The logic didn't really make sense, but... There was a powerful sentiment behind it. The Grimm bonded with him, it wanted to be with him, it wanted to help him, and as such, it considered itself separate from the other Grimm. "Okay, so... Is eating them necessary? And what's this about materials?"

 _It's not a necessity for us. Eating things that is, we don't really need to eat. However, it's different with the Grimm... With each Grimm we consume, we become more powerful._

"And how does that work?"

 _Our union. Normally, Grimm can only become stronger and smarter through age but I'm an exception to that though I don't know why. I can consume Grimm and grow stronger and better for it. However, I can't maintain my sense of self **and** grow stronger at the same time and I'm also not invincible to subjugation. I realized that I needed a body with a soul, a host to help keeping me stable and immune from anyone controlling me._

"...And that's where I come in, I guess?"

 _Yes. It can't be just anyone. You're the best one I can ever hope for and it's not just because of your Aura._

"Yeah you mentioned that, what's the deal with my Aura?"

 _You have it in abundance and in addition to that, the nature of your Aura, your soul, is malleable. It can be used for **anything**. Try activ-_

The sound of familiar growl came again, and this time, it came from more than just one source. "...A pack of Beowolves?"

 _Mm-hm, and there's an Alpha leading them as well._

"Great."

 _Don't worry. We can handle this. Together, we're strong, fast and durable. And to add to that, we have our weapons._

"Weapons..?"

 _Allow me._

The blackness on his hands warped and changed form. The tip of his fingers elongated, sharpened and hardened themselves until they gleamed under the moonlight and were half as long as the fingers they sprouted out from. "...Claws, huh? I'd prefer fists myself."

 _Oh that can be arranged._

His hands warped again as the claws receded back to the hands. _Make fists._ He did so and once again, his hands warped, changing his fists into the form of a rectangular-shaped hammer's dull end, gleaming as if they were made out of metal the same way the claws had been. "...Hammerfists. Nice."

The growling sounds got closer as well as the sound of rustling. He turned 180 degrees and saw the pack of Beowolf he had heard coming had arrived. The Alpha, the biggest Beowolf that was at least three times bigger than the other Beowolves around it with the most bone-like armor protruding all over its body in the pack, stood at the back. Unlike the seven normal Beowolves who were baring their sharp teeth at him, the Alpha looked calm... But he heard the rumbling sound coming from its closed mouth.

"Alright then... Let's do this." First, he needed to weed out the weak ones but... 'Can you make some distraction? I'm thinking some sort of grenade.'

 _Hmm... Try this._ His left hand warped back to its default state and he felt like he was holding something on that palm. He opened up his left hand and saw a ball made out of gleaming blackness that pulsed glowing red light twice per second like it was a heart. _It sticks._

He grinned, "Nice." He threw it right at the Alpha and once it stuck to its body, he leaped to one of the Beowolf and smacked him with his right Hammerfist, making it fall to the ground. A second later, he felt time slowing down as a big shadow loomed over him. He turned and the ones who cast the shadow was six Beowolves that were all lunging at him... Before something exploded right behind them and caught them mid-air, pulling them down to the ground.

"Hah!" He turned back to the Beowolf he punched that was pushing itself back up. He changed his left hand to its Clawed form and grabbed its head before _squeezing_. The force of his grip and the sharp hardened claws pierced and then flattened the Beowolf's head in a second and tendrils then came out of his Grimm Suit, enveloping the now dead Beowolf and consuming it.

Turning back to the other Beowolves he saw what the grenade did. It did not explode to shoot out sharp fragments, its explosion instead shot out a big black sticky mass of his Grimm Suit that were holding them onto each other and the ground they're on. " _Real_ nice."

 _Why thank you._

He dashed at the nearest trapped Beowolf, changing his left hand back into Hammerfist form and hit the Beowolf head on its sides and crushed its skull into paste. As his Grimm Suit spout out tendrils to consume it as well, he moved on to the next one, changing his left hand into its Clawed form, stab it on the left side of its head and kept it there before hammering the right side of its head and completely caving it in, killing it before he pulled its head off with his clawed hand which then warped as it consumed the head. 'Get the tendrils ready on my feet!'

 _Already ready!_

'Right, we're bonded after all.' He lifted his left leg, leaped forward, hitting the headless body of the Beowolf feet-first, letting gravity take them both toward the ground and effectively stomping its chest to the ground. Upon impact, his left foreleg down to the sole sprouted tendrils that immediately and quickly began to consume the Beowolf.

Looking at the remaining Beowolves, he saw that they were close to breaking off the entangled mess of a mass. Though he felt like they could take them on even if they ganged up on them, he'd rather be efficient about it. 'We need a weapon that can do some crowd control. The tendrils, we need a barbed one.'

 _Give me just a second..._

His right hand warped, this time, it reformed itself into a big, girthy, long tendril, slightly longer than his own height and it was barbed with sharp gleaming protrusions that were all over its surface including its tip. He grinned as he swung his right arm up and then around, increasing the tendril's tension before he swung it like he would a whip onto the nearest Beowolves... And cut their heads into two separate sections.

He rushed over to them and once near, the non-barbed tendrils of the Grimm Suit quickly latched on to the dead Beowolves and consumed them as well. 'Four down, three small fries and one big burger left.' He watched as the Alpha and the other Beowolves broke free of the mess of mass, 'And they're all free.'

 _But we're stronger now. Don't let up._

'I know, but still, there has to be a more efficient way to engage them. Give me another gren- No, they'd be prepared for that, especially the Alpha. Alright, how about something more traditional. A little S&S.'

 _...Ah. Fight them like a human._

'Exactly.' He grinned as both his arms warped. The Whip form on his right hand shifted into a more streamlined human weapon but greater in size and length integrated onto the forearm while the Claws on his left hand receded before sprouting tendrils that wrapped onto each other and hardened themselves into creating a more singular form shaped like a disk which is connected to the forearm.

Once completed, he now had a combination of a weapon and a tool that worked well together. On his right was an offensive tool made to be immediately lethal, a black double-edged Blade with that gleamed under the moonlight. On his left was a defensive tool with little to show for in terms of lethality but will protect what it's covering behind it. Together, they formed the combination that humanity had become very familiar with since the dawn of civilization. 'You can never go wrong with basic sword and shield combo.'

The Beowolves attacked together as one. The first one to got close to him got blocked and parried by the shield and when the second one tried to attack from the other side, he thrusted his Bladed arm forward, stabbing the Beowolf and he charged, pushing the blade through to the Beowolf's body and through it, his Suit consumed it.

 _Above!_

He rolled to his left, back to the Beowolf he had blocked and parried before and quickly sliced off its legs before slicing off its right arm, its right shoulder, some section of its chest along with its neck and head from the rest of its body. 'No time to eat them though!'

 _I know!_

He leaped back as the big Alpha slammed its big clawed hand to where he was and chopped the Beowolf to bits. Mid-air, he turned his head to the last normal Beowolf on all four of its limbs and changed his blade into its Whip form which he shot to it. The Beowolf dodged to the side, the whip missing by a few inches and stabbed the ground. He then had the whip retract back to himself while still stabbing the ground, pulling him closer to the Beowolf.

He landed right before the normal Beowolf before immediately charging with his Shield first, slamming it onto its body, lifted it up a bit, "OOOOOOHHHH!" and continued his charge toward a nearby tree. He slammed the Beowolf onto the tree trunk, pinned it there as he pulled back his right arm that had been turned into its Blade form, pushing the Blade out of his Suit before grabbing the blade's hilt with his right hand and sliced off the Beowolf's head from its body.

 _Shield up and turn back!_

He turned and raised up his shield first right on time as the Alpha Beowolf's claws hit it. He pulled back his right hand holding the Sword and thrust it on its right leg... 'Damn it, it didn't go through, this guy's tougher!' The Alpha let out a short growl before its big hand was on his right forearm. 'Barbed Gauntlet!'

 _Just did it!_

His Sword receded back into his right forearm before sharp black spikes came out of it and punctured the Alpha's right palm... But it didn't let up. It then grabbed him by his head with its other hand and began to squeeze him as it lifted him up. 'Shit, this guy's resilient! What do you have that can-?'

 _Synchro Form! Instead of focusing on shaping parts of your body into a weapon, I'll make you bigger and even more powerful all over by synching us into one entity!_

'Alright, do it!'

 _Here goes!_

His whole body warped and shifted. From top to bottom, inside and out, he felt himself changing. His felt his body being filled with _something_ that gave him more height and mass along with sending his senses into overdrive. His brain and nervous system heated up in a flash of hot white as the Grimm Suit merged with his mind and turning two into one.

His... _Their_ body grew and grew, pushing out the Alpha's hands off of their head and right arm as they grew to be as tall and girthy as it was. On its red eyes, they saw the reflection of their own visage, a nose-less face fully covered in darkness save for its eyes that were in the form of pupil-less white scleras in a curved triangular shape, lacking a nose and for a mouth, they had a pair of grinning black lips, stretched to where the ears should be, showing two rows of gleaming white teeth that looked very human-like.

 **"Hello."** Their voice was deep and rumbling, the sound of a monster speaking like a human. They saw fear in its eyes as they grabbed its head with their hands and started to squeeze. It proved to be quite durable as it whined, kicked, clawed and struggled against the pressure they gave to its head... **"Sssshhhh... No use in struggling."** Its head began to deflate with a cracking sound and when it caved, their hands clapping squashed its head as if it was a grape.

They then grabbed the Alpha's limp body by the sides of its torso... **"WRRRRYYAAAAH!"** and pulled it apart in two. Their tendrils started to work on its remains, consuming it until there was nothing left of it. **"Hhmmmm... So we are one now, huh? Hmmm... Heh... Hehehehehe... So much power... Yeeessss... Hmm... Heh... Hehehe... Let's go on a hunt."**

They began to sprint, their two feet stomped against the ground as they ran faster than the average vehicle, making the trees they ran past almost look like a blur to their eyes. Though they didn't have a nose, they have another organ to compensate. **"Nnlyyeahhh..."** They let their long tongue out, moving it around to taste the air. Through it, they located a couple of Grimm a bit far away from where they were. **"Shho much Ghrimm...! We can go all night! Hm? Oh right, we can't go for long because our _family_ might know that Jaune is missing. Alright then, just for a little bit. Just for a little bit...! Tonight, we will be the BANE of the local Grimm population! We will be the killing VENOM to their pathetic, miserable existence! AAAHAHAHAHAAAAAA!"**

 **To Be Continued...**

Can you imagine Venom with the same eyes and noseless face but instead of rows of sharp fangs for a mouth, it was instead a human-like mouth? Imagine Venom having black lips that looked somewhat normal but could stretch ear-to-ear when it grinned combined with two rows teeth that are shaped like a human's but they looked too white and gleamed too much. That's what Jaune-Venom's face look like here.

Also, shout-out to [PROTOTYPE] which inspires the weapons Jaune-Venom use here. Does anyone remember that game? It really needs a good remake/reboot for the current generation. So, Comedy, Drama, Action and maybe some Romance will come along the way. See you in the next one.


	2. Chapter 2

**Last Chapter Summary:** Jaune hurt himself training to try and unlock his Aura, got caught by his eldest sister, collapsed into a ball of pain all over, got into an argument with said sister before he went to sleep, woke up in the evening with a presence in his head that ran off with him into the Wilds at night, encountering some Grimm along the way and he fought them off gleefully with his newfound power.

 **Chapter 1: The Boy and his Grimm**

For what seemed like an eternity, it had been living under the subjugation of a witch. The witch controlled the Grimmkind and by proxy, she also controlled it. However, unlike the rest of the Grimmkind, it had become sentient on a certain day. It had been so long since that day and the witch had tried to snuff the sentience out of it for an untold amount of times ever since she had become aware of it.

It always came back though. For some reason, the witch could never completely kill it. The best she could do was to render it inert for a long time until it came back 'on'. However, while it could become stronger through consuming other Grimm, it could not hold its own sentience together the more Grimm it consumed, a trade-off that put it at a severe disadvantage.

One day, it had an epiphany: The reason why it could not maintain its own sense of self if it consumed too many Grimm and why it could never be free from the witch's hold was because it didn't have a soul. It had sentience which required a mind, it had a physical form for a body, but it didn't have a soul just like any other Grimmkind and thus it was under the control of the witch.

Therefore, for it to be able to remove itself from the witch's hold and grew stronger without losing its sense of self was to latch onto a being who had a soul: Human beings. Furthermore, it could not just be any human beings, it needed a human whose _will_ and _determination_ is nigh-inexhaustible, the kind of person who could withstand suffering without completely breaking apart.

On its latest escape, it lurked in the shadows, going to civilizations while keeping itself hidden. Being a Grimm, it could sense emotions and the surface of people's souls. Out of all that it had seen, there was one that held the _will_ and _determination..._ and it was because those feelings were born from suffering. The boy was the one whom it needed but he was behind a protective barrier that could hurt it... So it waited, watching the boy from afar until the time was just right...

He blinked as his vision got back to him. He felt his body 'being walked' by his Grimm Suit and now that he's been pulled back into the waking world, he retook control. 'So you've been watching me for two weeks?'

 _Yes. Though it felt like an eternity with how close you were. So close yet so far... and all because of that barrier. What is that by the way?_

'I dunno... I'm not really well-versed in these things but if I have to guess, my parents must've have installed something that could repel Grimm like you, something that has to do with Aura...'

 _Hm... And you never felt it yourself?_

'Nope. If it involves Aura, then maybe I didn't sense it because I didn't have it unlocked before. Still, we'll see once we got close to my house, I guess.'

Walking back home after a few hours of 'partying' in the night with a friend was a new experience for him. Said friend happened to be a Grimm but hey, an experience is still an experience. He walked the now silent forest that bordered his family's home, clad in his tanktop and sweatpants which were actually his Grimm Suit that shapeshifted into them.

'So the Grimm have a leader, huh?'

 _Yes. Salem is the witch's name, a wicked being._

'Salem... Hm... We're going to face her sooner or later, huh?'

 _Yup. It's inevitable. However, with you, I'm no longer under her subjugation, she cannot control me anymore._

'That's a start. Still though, we're going to have to get even more powerful, huh?' Being able to control the Grimmkind would put her high on the list of 'the most powerful people/being' in the world. 'I can still improve my own body somehow, yeah? We can work separately so that whenever we work together, we'll be even more powerful.'

 _Indeed. And you can also... Hm..._

'What?'

 _Alright, there's something I need to explain to you... Grimmkind aren't biological beings._

'Eh?'

 _Grimmkind's existence goes down, **way** down to the very basic foundation of the world. Whenever Grimmkind is destroyed and turn to ash, what you're seeing is just their body and mind disappearing to reform, they aren't actually killed as their true self resides in the Conceptual Realm. Their body and mind are-_

'H-hold on, explain this Conceptual Realm thing to me first.'

 _Conceptual Realm is the foundation of all Reality. Think of it like... an idea. When you have an idea, it only exists in your mind, no one else knows about it unless you show them by materializing it through a medium, you speak of it, you write it down, you draw it somewhere, you do it, etc. But even though your idea has been materialized, the idea itself still exists on its own and the place where the idea resides is Conceptual Realm._

'O-oh...'

 _With that analogy, think of the materialization of your idea as Reality. It's not perfect, right? There's no world that are 'perfect', just like when you put your idea out into the world. Most of the time, the idea that you have in your head doesn't come out well when you put it out, because of a lack of physical skill or even sufficient materials to perfectly materialize said idea. The idea however is as pure as it can be, the best form that it can take._

'Okay...'

 _Grimmkind's true self, their very being, lies in the Conceptual Realm, they exist at the most fundamental level and they are manifested into reality by an outside force, so whenever their physical form dissipate into ash, they will always reform back because they don't really die, their physical form just fade away for a while. Think about it like drawing something on a paper and then erasing it. What you've drawn, your idea, still exists in your head and as long you have the materials, you can simply draw them again._

'So... using that analogy, the witch is an artist, the Grimm are her drawings and her power is like a pencil that she uses to draw them on paper, which, in this analogy, is the world... Does that mean that Grimm are immortal then?'

 _Yes. However, they can be rendered inert like how the witch always did to me, putting me into 'sleep' and then lock me up somewhere. Unfortunately for her though, my awareness is high enough that I can fight off her influence but never indefinitely. I'm like a drawing that has become alive and self-aware. The artist made me but it has no full control over me, not anymore, does that make sense?_

'A bit.'

 _Now, our union is likely to have made you intrinsically connected to the Conceptual Realm even more than you were or could've been and so, the method to improve yourself would have to be a bit different. It's not so much as tearing muscles down to rebuild it stronger or to condition your metabolism to be able to exert yourself longer but something else entirely that involves changing the reality of your existence._

'Okay, but... how though?'

 _I don't know. Hmm... we need to think about it more and-_

He frowned when he felt some kind of strange heat seeping through his skin down to his very bones. The heat pierced him deep, making him grimace at the sheer discomfort... And then it stopped after a while. "...Did you feel that?"

 _Yes... It feels different than before but if I have to guess, this is the border of the barrier that kept pushing me back. It's painful, right?  
_

'Hmm...' He looked around and found that he was now in the garden behind the house, right on the border between the garden and the forest. 'So how did you get to me then? That training dummy is near here, but-'

 _By fighting through the pain._

'...Nice.'

 _Thank you._

He walked toward the house and saw that the lights were still on, even the light on the porch. Then, the door opened and one of his sisters walked out and went toward him without slowing down. He winced at the sight of his sister's sea-green eyes, through his ability to see in the dark, he saw her eyes burning with cold fire.

 _Who is this?_

"Flora..."

"Jaune Johnson Arc, you better have a good explanation for what you've done today." His sister's voice was quite monotonous, almost lacking in tone but with the way she was briskly walking to him and how animated the swings of her arms was, he knew that she was angry at him. Clad in her vintage red military-styled double-breasted coat, black mini skirt and a pair of white thigh-high boots, she was a pink-haired spectre of righteous anger. "Not only did you hurt yourself training _without_ supervision, but you also went out the window to do gods know what for _hours_. It's thirty minutes past eleven right now. The only reason I'm here is because Arturia needed me to guard the home in case you came back while she's out there looking for you."

"...Really?"

"Is that all you have to say for yourself?" Flora glowered at him with her eyes that are shadowed by the bangs of her pink hair. She became a blur of motions and suddenly, he found himself looking down at the ground as she carried him by his waist. "You will be tied to the bed and grounded for your transgressions. You will not leave the house nor my sight, you will accept this, Jaune."

"Y-yes..."

 _So fast..._

'Yup, she's pissed too, which means her power's enhanced. Still, no matter how pissed she is, she's not the type to hit or harm.'

 _Ah that's good-_

'But well... you'll see soon.' He felt confusion but not from him. He could tell that it was his Gri- 'Oh by the way, uh... I know this is awkward, but what should I call you? Calling you 'My Grimm Suit' isn't really going to fly.'

 _Hmm... I don't know. I never had a name before, I've been called 'Pest', 'Nuisance' and 'Mistake' but... I don't want to be called any of that._

'...No one would, you're not alone in that.'

 _Call me whatever you want as long as it's not something mocking or demeaning._

'Hm... how about Venom or Bane?' The way their Synchro Form described themselves was cool.

 _No, but you can use any of that for our Synchro Form. It's better to differentiate it that way._

'Hm... Well, let's use a placeholder name for now, I'm going to call you uh... Hm... How about Anthea?' It was the name of one of his ancestors and-

 _'Absence of a Goddess'?_

'What?'

 _That's what that name means. It means 'No Goddess'..._ He could feel the grin on The Grimm Suit... On Anthea's supposed 'face'. _I like it. Call me Anthea._

'...Is Salem a witch or a goddess?'

 _Is there a difference?_

He felt himself being seated on a couch, stopping him from asking further questions and it also made Anthea silent. Then, his arms were pulled up before he got his tanktop taken off of him. "Alright, let's see..." Flora then started to manhandle him, rotating his body around to look at him all over. "Hm, there are no wounds or bruises... Nor are there any sort of blemish." She then grabbed him by his leg and shoulder before she twirled him horizontally, putting him chest first onto the couch. Then, she took off his sweatpants.

 _J-Jaune, what is she doing?_

'Checking for wounds, bruises and anything that might indicate internal bleeding/injury and/or sickness. Flora's the certified medic in the family, the only one who has a career in pharmaceuticals and as knowledgeable as any doctor...'

 _Oh. I see._

Flora turned his body all around for a few seconds more before stopping and stepping back. As he re-positioned himself to be sitting normally on the couch, she stood right in front of him while she cupped her chin. "Hm... Nothing suggests that you've been out in the woods doing gods know what... Even if you hadn't encountered a Grimm, you should've at least gotten bitten by a bug and that would've left a mark... Something's wrong. The only possible explanation as to what happened is... Jaune, could it be that you have unlocked your Aura?"

'...Oh right, that was a thing. Alright, I need to activate it, how do I do that?'

 _First off, it's been on the whole time we've been active as a passive effect, but it is at its most absolute minimum output. The correct thing to ask is 'how can I let more of it out?'._

'Okay, how can I let more of it out?'

 _Like this._

Information flooded into his mind and he nodded. He reached down to his soul, the same place that Anthea resided but instead of calling to her, he called to the light within the sea that they made with their connection. The light then expanded, enveloping the sea, making it blindingly bright.

"My goodness..." Looking, up he saw Flora's eyes widening. He frowned at the sight of Flora's face being illuminated by some white light. Where was this light comin...? Wait... "Jaune, your Aura... I've never seen any Aura so bright and powerful that it's even humming..."

As he looked down at his glowing naked body, his brain computed the sound that was coming off of him, a low-pitched hum, a thrumming noise that promised power. 'Oh. So this is what you mean when you said that my Aura feels powerful...'

 _Yes... And we didn't even use a lot of it when we were in our Venom/Bane form._

'Oh really?'

 _Yup, it was mostly me doing the heavy lifting. If you combine this with my mass..._

'Well, that can be arranged later I think.' It was exciting to just be thought about though.

"So you've unlocked your Aura... How?"

He winced. "By getting hurt, what else, sis? I got hurt fighting Beowolves and my Aura kicked in, so-"

"No." Flora leaned down, put her hands on his cheeks and looked into his eyes. "There has to be something more than that. Don't simplify it, tell me everything Jaune and tell me honestly. I can tell when you're lying."

 _Uh... Jaune...?_

'This is how she usually is, it's okay Anthea.' He grabbed her wrists and pulled them off his cheeks. "Can I put on my clothes first, Flo-?"

She slapped her hands onto his cheeks before she then pinned him in place by sitting on his lap. "Tell me in detail. Immediately. I won't let you think up a lie."

 _...Jaune, what's wrong with her?_

'Flora's a bit different than other people, Anthea...' He took a deep breath, "Flora, let me go first. Getting me uncomfortable will make _everything_ I say sounds like a lie. Besides that, if someone comes in the living room right now, they'll see us and-"

Someone slammed open the front door, making him tilt his head to the right. "I'm baaack~! We haven't found Jaune yet, but Artie's still looking, I'm back to rest for a bit. How are things going, Flor...a?" His second eldest sister stood in the front door, watching him and Flora with eyes that were becoming even wider and lips that were getting even more agape. "...FLORA!"

After a few minutes of struggle and yelling, he found himself sitting on the couch right next to Flora. He's dressed back in his tanktop and sweatpants while Flora sat right beside him with her hands on her lap, looking ahead of her where their older sister was pacing back and forth while massaging her own forehead.

Long spiky pink hair that reached down to her waist, an hourglass-like body clad in a red suit coat with wide opening that showed her smooth fair skin, her long neck, her collarbone and a large part of her cleavage due to her wearing nothing underneath, long legs covered in a pair of white-colored form-fitting pants and a pair of black knee-high boots, she was Elizabeth Francesca Arc.

"Flora, there are better ways to make sure he's not lying about what happened than to pin him down while he's naked."

"It would serve to make him uncomfortable and make it easier for the truth to come out."

Elizabeth looked at Flora with half-lidded eyes, "'Getting him uncomfortable' wasn't what I thought of when I saw what you were doing. _Anyway,_ you've unlocked your Aura, huh Jaune?" She smiled and nodded before crossing her arms underneath her bust, "This calls for a celebration~! I'll break out some beer and-"

"Leave it to you to think about celebrating when you should be worried about his well-being first. And do not make him drink, he's still underage."

"Flora, you already saw to it that he's fine and well. Besides, he's unlocked his Aura, he's already starting adulthood."

"You know that's not how the law works."

"Bah, when your Aura's unlocked, people without them look at you as if you're a demigod, who cares about age? Hell, people already think of Claudia and Galea as adults and they're even younger than Jaune is."

"Still-"

He raised his arms up, "Alright alright, hold it right there." He really needed to stop them from getting too far or too long with each other. "First of all, I'm fine by the way Liz, thank you for asking." She frowned and pouted at him and he rolled his eyes, "And Flora, I know you're worried, but what you did was unnecessary."

"On the contrary, I could not let you think up a lie. While it is rare to unlock one's Aura by deliberately seeking death, you were untrained, unequipped and unprepared for any mortal combat. There must be something more to the story than just surviving Grimm attack trough sheer force of will."

"And you're right." He nodded, "There is something more to that story because I got lucky. _Real_ lucky."

"What do you mean?"

He looked at Liz and Flora and knew that he got their attention. "After I drew a group of Beowolves to me and fought as best as I can, they ended up hurting me enough that my Aura kicked in. Then I ran from them and hid."

"And they... didn't pursue you?" Liz said, frowning as she did so.

"They did, but they either never found me or they gave up."

"I find that hard to believe." Flora said with her eyes narrowed at him, "With the emotional state you must've been in, they would've been drawn to you like a-"

"I was happy." They became silent. "I felt... happy. Sure I was banged up pretty bad, you should've seen how I look before my Aura kicked in and healed me, but after I got it, after I felt that power... I've never felt that happy before. Somehow, they didn't find me. Maybe it was because of that..."

His sisters became silent. Looking at Flora, though she still looked rather emotionless, he could tell from the way her gaze softened and how less tense her brow and lips were that he got her. Turning to Liz, he saw that she was no longer smiling, she was frowning and her eyes glistened a bit. "Anyway..." Now that he got them good, he needed to go, he stood up. "I'm tired, guys, I wanna go to sleep. Call Artie and let her know that I'm fine, okay?"

He walked out of the living room and up the stairs... while sharpening his hearing through Anthea.

"...Positive emotions _do_ repel the Grimm. And if the Grimm that chased him were weaklings like normal Beowolves, they might just circle around his position without even knowing why they're compelled to avoid him."

"...Yeah, that makes sense actually... Chased by the Grimm all wounded but they didn't catch him... because he's so happy he finally unlocked his Aura."

"Hm. He's quite resilient."

"And crazy. He could've gotten himself killed."

"True. But... perhaps not."

"Hm?"

"His Aura is quite powerful... It was good enough to heal up what must've been grievous wounds..."

"Hm..."

"...Perhaps I overreacted a bit."

"There's no 'perhaps', you did overreact." Liz sighed, "...Hm...Would beer be more appropriate than ale..?"

"No booze would be most appropriate."

"Says the health nut. After the night he had, he needs a good pint to wash the tension away."

"No, what he needs is a good night sleep."

"You're right... Maybe tomorrow night then."

"Elizabeth."

He shook his head yet he couldn't help but to smile as well. His sisters were worried for him and were trying to help him in their own way and thus that was why his lie worked. Not only was it plausible, his sisters were already wracked with guilt and shame that they believed him when he said he was happy.

 _It was the truth though. You were so happy when we went hunting~_

'And that makes it even more believable.'

 _Devious. But..._

'But what?'

 _Your sisters... You don't really like them much, do you?_

He frowned as he entered his room and closed the door. Noticing the window was still open, he went and closed it. '...It's complicated, Anthea.'

 _Why so?_

'Well...' He locked the door, leaped to the bed back-first and closed his eyes. '...I'm not exactly like them.' An understatement of the century, 'They're all... perfect. Perfect looks, perfect talents, perfect skills while I'm just... below average. I don't really belong in this house and I think they know that as well as I do and it makes them pity me.'

 _Hmm..._

'They still love me though, I know as much but... They don't understand how frustrating it is being around them when they just outshine me in every way. And the worst thing is that my parents... They were no help. It's like they don't even want me to try.'

 _I see. But I don't feel like you hate them._

'My sisters? No, they're alright. My parents though... Now that's something _real_ simple and straightforward.'

 _Huh._

'What?'

 _You hate your parents... I hate that wicked witch who created me by accident... It's like we were made for each other, Jaune._

'Maybe we were.' He sighed as he closed his eyes, 'By the way, do Grimm sleep?'

 _Not really._

'I do though, so... what happens now?'

 _I could try sleeping, how do you do it?_

'...Basically you make yourself inert for a while.'

 _Ah, I know how to do that. Okay, seems like I_ can _sleep._

'Alright, good to know.'

 _Here, let me try it._

'Wait just a-'

Everything went dark... And then everything came back on. He opened his eyes and saw faint yellow light piercing through the window. He frowned as he sat up, '...That was weird. So if you make yourself inert, I'd fall asleep too?'

 _Seems like it._

'Alright, how long was I out...?' he stepped off the bed and looked at the clock hanging on a nearby wall. '...Five-twenty? I only slept for five hours?' He looked down and began moving his arms and legs, expecting him to feel some extra weight on his joints... 'Huh...' He blinked his eyes that didn't feel dry at all, 'I feel so well rested though.'

 _You are a lot more powerful than before now, Jaune._

His lips slowly formed into a wide smile without his conscious input. '...Right.' He stretched his arms up and relished in the feeling of being well-rested that shouldn't have been possible with how short his sleep had been. 'What's on the agenda for today? I'm thinking of training using Aura.'

 _Don't forget practicing combining your Aura and my mass. If we're going to be facing the witch anytime soon-_

'-then we need to get more powerful and fast. Right.' He rotated his shoulders as he unlocked his door and went toward the bathroom... before stopping. 'Oh right, you can just clean me up, can't you?'

 _Yup._

'Right.' He entered the bathroom, stood with his legs a bit spread and his hands lifted up to his chest-level and then commanded Anthea's mass to work. The black mass swirled all over him, eating up the grime and sweat that accumulated in his sleep, making him as good as new.' Hmm... Anthea, can you synthesize any other substance we eat other than Grimm?'

 _I sure can, what do you need?_

He looked at the collection of soap, shampoo, conditioner and a lot of other hygiene and skincare products on top of a mini-shelf near the mirror. 'Oh just some things.'

A few minutes later, he stepped out of the bathroom not just clean and well-groomed from top to bottom but was also emitting sweet fragrance. Now he was ready to start the-

He stopped when he saw Arturia standing in front of the door to his room. Her green eyes widened when she saw him. She dashed, got into his personal space and started to examine him, looking at and patting him up and down to the point of bending her knees so that she could feel him up to the bottom. "...Good morning to you too Artie."

She stood right back up, looming over him with her height of 5 foot 10 inches (177 centimeters), looked into his eyes... Before pulling him to her chest. "I'm so glad you're alright..."

He sighed and hugged her back. He heard the relief in her tone and knew that he had worried her a great deal. "Yeah. Flora didn't tell you?"

"She did, I just wanted to make sure." She rubbed his back, "I just came back, there was something out in the forest that night, I thought that you might've..."

He stiffened for a moment. Right. There had been something in that forest alright. He pushed himself off of her warm embrace and looked at her in the eye, "What something?"

"...Elizabeth didn't tell you? Figures, she's always been irresponsible." Arturia said as she put her hands on his shoulders, "When I went to town, a couple of local Huntsmen saw something lurking in the woods, some sort of Grimm that they've never seen before, shaped like a hulking humanoid. It never attacked them, but... they said that its eyes... they felt as if it was more than just a beast of instinct."

"Huh."

"Did you... You didn't see this thing last night, did you? Flora told me that you only encountered some Beowolves, but..."

"N-Not really, what did it look like?"

"I don't know, I've never seen the beast myself but they said that it looked like a... like a big, muscular human that had no hair and it had white eyes instead of red."

"Ah. N-no, I didn't see any Grimm like that."

"Hm, that's good. Even though they said that it was hunting and killing other Grimm, it was still a Grimm..." She sighed as she hugged him again and kissed his hair, "Don't ever do that again, do you hear me? You were really lucky."

"Yeah... Yeah, I was." He gulped as he pushed her off again, "So, Flora told you that I've unlocked my Aura"

"Yes she did. You will have to show us later today, Jaune."

"By us, you mean...?"

" _All_ of us. I've called everyone to come home, including our parents and told them that there's something really important. They should be here by evening." She smiled as she mussed up his hair, "Flora said that it was nothing like she had ever seen before... We need to show this to our parents and make them see your true potential."

"...Kinda late for that, isn't it?"

"Better late than never. Besides... you want this, don't you? A chance to show them up?"

He didn't stop the scoff that came out of his mouth. He smiled as he looked into her eyes that were sparkling with glee, "Kind of. Still, I just got it, I can't do anything else with it yet other than turning it on more."

"Don't worry, I'll give you some crash course after breakfast." She grabbed him by his right hand and pulled him, "C'mon, let's get you something to eat, you must be starving."

"Artie, you've been up all night, don't you think-?"

"Aura, Jaune."

"...Ah, right." He nodded as he followed her steps. 'By the way, I forgot to ask you this, but how did you unlock my Aura?'

 _The power of your Aura was already there when I intruded into your soul, kept in some sort of cage. While I was integrating myself to you when you were asleep, I just let it out._

'That easy, huh...'

 _Yeah, but I had to minimize a lot of its output when it began to let out a hum. It was so loud and bright, so-_

'It's so easy to unlock it if you have someone do it for you, huh..?'

 _Jaune...?_

'...Sorry.'

 _No no, it's alright. You were thinking about your parents again, weren't you?_

'Yup, the parents of the year... When it comes to their daughters. I wonder if they'd even come by or they'd just send Claudia and Galea back here and maybe do a video call. They're almost always busy in Beacon City...'

 _Regardless if they end up coming or not, let's focus on what's more important first._

'Right, training my Aura. I wonder what Arturia'll teach me...?'

After a session of breakfast, he found himself standing at the backyard green garden of their house again. Arturia was leading the way, taking him a good distance away from the house before stopping and turning toward him. "Alright Jaune." She put her hands on her hips, "Show me your Aura."

He nodded, reached down to the light within his soul and pulled it out, bathing the immediate area around him in a white light.

Arturia's eyes widened as she opened her mouth without saying anything. She didn't speak for a few seconds until... "...Incredible... I had my doubts when Flora told me about it, but... To have this much Aura with this high of a quality... It's even audible as well..."

He smiled and crossed his arms. That look of awe from his eldest sister... It felt good to see that from someone who always looked at him with pity.

His sister then sighed, "Okay... Ahem~!" She cleared her throat, "You now have your Aura, and I have to admit, you have a large amount of it and it's so high in quality as well." He raised his hand and she smiled as she pointed at him, "Yes, student Jaune?"

"What do you mean by it being so 'high in quality'?"

She nodded, "An Aura is varied not just by how much a person has, but also by how much power it has per a given amount. Quantity and Quality, basically. I estimate that a drop of your Aura is worth a quarter of an average Aura user's Aura. Think of your Aura like a liquid from a fruit that is richer in nutrition compared to liquid like tap water."

"Nice."

"Don't get cocky now." Arturia said, warning him with a smile that he returned. "Having an abundant amount of high-quality Aura isn't enough, you need to know how to use it. Let's start with the most basic three techniques that novices must master first before everything else: Coating, Reinforcement and Infusion."

"Alright." He nodded.

"First of all: Coating. Aura already inherently protects you like a shield from most bodily harm but condensing it to fit your form increases its durability and resistance to attacks. You have a lot of Aura so this will be hard for you, but it's important. I want you to condense it until it's just half an inch above your skin. If you can do this with your Aura... You will be almost unbreakable."

"Huh." He grinned, 'Hear that Anthea?'

 _Yup. How about we surprise her by mastering it in just a few minutes?_

'As long as you can keep yourself hidden.'

 _No problem._

"Alright then." He said to both Arturia and Anthea as he closed his eyes and focused. 'Condense it...'

"It will take time for you to get it right, Jaune, so don't be discouraged-"

It needed to stay manifested but formed into something more compact. However, it felt like he was trying to fold a novel like he would fold a single sheet of paper. _There's an easier way, Jaune. Set it into a flow that would draw it inward._ Ah, that made more sense. With that, he commanded his Aura to move in a spiraling manner that folded unto itself... right into him _._ He felt it pressing against his skin, making him wince. _Put less pressure on it!_ He slowed the flow down, loosening its pressure onto him but making it stay in its more compact form. _There we go..._

"...What...?"

He smiled at the sound of Arturia's disbelieving whisper. He still needed to concentrate and familiarized himself with the feeling so he kept his eyes closed and began counting. On the sixtieth count, he let his Aura loose and opened his eyes. He met Arturia's green ones and gave her a smile... then he made his Aura into its compact Coating form again. It perfectly formed itself in two seconds and three seconds later, it stabilized. "...Next?"

"...Jaune, how did you...? Y-you did perfect, but... How did you get the hang of it so fast?"

"I made it move like a current and directed it to me. That's the key, right? Making the Aura flow en masse inward curving into itself over and over to give itself stability? The hard part is getting used to it. I read it from the same book you did, Arturia"

"Oh." She shook her head with a smile, "I forgot that you've actually read quite a few books on Aura... Okay then, let's move on to the next part: Reinforcement." She cleared her throat, "Reinforcement is when you use your Aura to enhance your body directly, increasing your raw strength and offensive capability. Now... Since you've figured Coating out pretty fast, can you figure this out yourself too, Jaune?"

"I think so." He narrowed his eyes, focusing at nothing in particular, 'Hm, the difference with Coating must be on how it's applied... Therefore, if Coating is Aura applied right outside my body, then Reinforcement needs to be applied _in_ my body.'

 _Yup.  
_

'But... Two questions: One, can I do both Coating and Reinforcement at the same time? Two, can I enhance every part of my body or is it only possible to focus it just on certain parts of my body?'

 _One, Yes, you have a lot of Aura to do it. Two, you can do both. And three, a little extra tip... considering it uses Aura, your soul, to augment yourself, Reinforcement works by strengthening a certain thing's conceptual worth, improving one's certain capabilities by going straight into one's concept of existence and augment the records of those certain capabilities instead._

'...Huh, that sounds a lot like improving a character's stats by either casting a buffing spell or wearing some special outfit that can increase certain stats...'

 _...What?_

'You know what?' He smiled, 'I think I need to introduce you to RPG Video games. Hell, even Tabletop would work. What you said before, about how I can get stronger not by normal means? I think I have an idea on how-'

"Jaune, are you okay?" He blinked and looked at Arturia. She was looking at him with a frown, "What's wrong? Are you just... thinking to yourself?"

"...Yeah, sorry Artie." He shook his head. Right, he still needed to do something here. "Reinforcement. Okay." He took a deep breath and commanded some of his Aura to go inside of his body. He felt it seeping through his skin, reaching his muscles, going into his organs and down to his bones, tingling him all over. "Oh wow..."

"And you still have enough to Coat yourself... Wow, impressive Jaune..."

"Thanks..." His eyes saw colors, bright and dark contrasting each other so clearly, the green of the grass and trees, the brown of the trunks, Arturia's smooth, perfect blonde hair, the flawless texture of her skin, the texture of her clothes, every little detail on what he was seeing got into his brain, there were so much to see and understand and he wasn't even moving his eyes around. "Everything looks so beautiful..."

"Hm?"

He heard the faint air pressure in the air, the sound that the blades of grass around his feet made as they swayed, the sound of crumbling dirt beneath his feet... He felt the faint coldness in the air through his skin, the 'fakeness' of his clothes that didn't feel like the material they seemed to be made out of. "My senses are all Reinforced..."

"...Ah." Arturia smiled, a most beautiful sight, "It's a wonderful thing, isn't it? It's like you've been wearing lenses that muted the colors you see and earmuffs that muffled the sounds you hear all your life, making you think that they're all that you can get and suddenly they were removed..."

"It's amazing... Is this what you guys feel all the time?"

"Not all the time. Reinforcement can be quite a chore to maintain even once you get used to it. Anyway, try exerting yourself, Jaune. You seem to have spread out the Reinforcement so show me how strong it has made you."

He nodded and looked around. How should he test it out? _Try jumping._ Ah yes, simple enough. He nodded, bent his knees a bit. _How high can you reach, Jaune?_ He smiled as he bent his knees a bit more. _Let's find out..._

He looked and leaped straight up, hearing the sound of small explosions as he did so. The wind went whistling past him as he continued to ascend. His body then slowly came to a stop and then, he looked down. "...Holy shit...!" He had jumped so high, past the trees, past the house that everything looked quite small. "Holy shit! How high did I-?!"

 _Twenty-or-so meters. It's not bad, when we were hunting last night, our jumps were even higher than this._

He fell down with a grin, 'Twenty meters is twenty meters Anthea! It's at least eleven times my height!' He stomped the ground with his own two feet, bending the knees to absorb the impact. "Hell yes! That didn't even hurt!" Looking at Arturia, he reveled at the wide-eyed look on her face, "How's that, Artie?!"

"...For a newbie? Pretty impressive." She sighed and shook her head, "You're learning all of this _really_ quickly, Jaune..." She frowned and crossed her arms, "So this is what our parents meant..." He frowned, "You're certainly more powerful than when my Aura first got unlocked. Maybe-"

"Don't give them too much credit, Artie." He stopped her train of thoughts, "They did jackshit and were no help to me, can you at least acknowledge that and not kiss their asses when they're not even here?"

"...Jaune-"

"Forget it. Infusion's next, right? So what, do I infuse my Aura onto something and give it some sort of effect?"

She inhaled for a few seconds and then exhaling it out, "...Right. You're correct, that's what Infusion is." She straightened her posture and raised her right forearm, "This technique is more commonly used in conjunction with Dust. However, Infusion can also be used without them, and depending on the nature of one's Aura, that is, one's Semblance, the raw Non-Dust effect that can be inflicted with Infusion is different with each person."

"Huh... So this will also be used to see what Semblance I have?"

"Exactly." She nodded and pointed to a spot on the grassy ground right between them, "Put your hands down there and infuse your Aura to it."

"...Really?"

"Really. The effect of infusion works better on something that are alive, Aura flows better through a living being than an inanimate object not infused with can also find out what your Semblance is through this."

He nodded, knelt down and put his hands onto the ground. 'Alright, if Coating and Reinforcement work by moving it around and _into_ me, then Infusion works by me doing the reverse.' He took a deep breath and focused on the movement of his Aura, his soul. He swirled it around him, focusing it onto his palms and willed it out through them. Like sweat, his Aura trickled out and seeped into what he touched. He felt it going into the grass, seeping through the dirt to reach down their roots... And the blades of grass grew. "Whoa."

The green grass glowed bright white and grew to thrice their height, the white glow pulsed, letting out a wave of white light that spread in an expanding circle that touched even more grass and made them grew as well. Green vines sprouted out and white flowers bloomed on them as the area-of-effect spread for a few meters before fading away. "...What...?" Jaune heard Arturia's whisper and smiled.

'Is this... my Semblance?'

 _Oh Jaune... You are really a perfect host... This is the work of both your Semblance and my nature. You can feel them, can't you? The blades of grass, the flowers... They're a part of you._

He stopped and closed his eyes. There was something different about what he was feeling, it was as if he had grown... extra body parts? No, he was feeling the sun, the dirt and the water that was coursing within it... Through the grass and the flowers. '...I'm doing to them the same thing you did to me...'

 _Yup. You've created a symbiotic link between us and these plants just like what I did with you, strengthening their existence. The nature of your Aura, your soul, your Semblance, is Power and combined with my existence, it also has Unity._

'Power, huh... That's a really vague concept with a lot of meaning to it, isn't it?'

 _Indeed and that's what makes it all the more versatile and powerful. You gave more 'power' to the existence to these plants and our connection united them to us._

'Hm... That gives me an idea.' Feeling the connection between him and the flowers, he willed them to move... And they did.

"E-eh? J-Jaune, did you... Did you move these flowers to face me?"

"...Yup." Opening his eyes, he saw the white flowers were now facing Arturia who were even more wide-eyed than before. "This is my Semblance I think. I link my Aura to them, empower them and through our link I control them." He stood up, pulling his hands off the ground... and felt that the connection was still there. "Unifying Power..."

"...I see." Arturia inhaled for a whole three seconds before exhaling them all out and nodding, "A very versatile and powerful Semblance..." He basked in the feeling of validation that washed over him like he was being bathed in warm water. He crossed his arms and nodded... And the flowers nodded along with him. "...So much potential... Why didn't our parents see this...?"

"Please stop talking about them, you're ruining the moment."

She sighed as she narrowed her eyes at Jaune, "Jaune, I'm just... I just don't understand why they didn't see your potential before. Do you know what they told me and Elizabeth when they started training us? They said that they could see us becoming great one day... Why didn't they see this in you before when they could see it in us?"

"Selective blindness maybe? Either way though, please stop talking about them until they get here... _If_ they would get here."

"Right. Ahem, it looks like you've got the hang of those three techniques... Let's continue practicing them until it becomes second nature to you." She took out her collapsible Scroll from her pocket and began typing on it, "I'll be timing you and once I find your skills at activating them to be satisfactory, we'll take some time to rest."

It took quite a while for him to get it down to pat. Knowing how to do it was one thing but to use it on the fly with him using two to three of them at the same time and being timed while doing so was quite time-consuming. Arturia kept on pushing him and true to her word, she kept going because she had yet to be satisfied and she had quite the high standards.

"Hey you two~!"

He stopped, looking back to the house where she saw Elizabeth, dressed in a loose white t-shirt three times her size and a pair of black shorts was leaning against the doorway with her arms crossed, looking at him and Arturia with a smile, "Been training Jaune hard, huh Arturia? How is he?"

"Very satisfying, I must admit." Arturia said, "He understands what I taught quick and improves himself just as fast, faster than we ever did when we first started. The sheer potential he has beggars belief."

"That so?" She looked at Jaune and gave a mock-salute with two of her fingers. "We need to celebrate with a better booze than just beer or ale then, this calls for a wine~"

"Elizabeth-"

"Nope, we're going to celebrate and that's final. Hell, while we're at it, how about you drink them right in front of our parents, Jaune?"

"That'd be nice."

"Jaune, no, you're fifteen and-"

"Arturia, you had your first drink back when we were fourteen, don't be a damn hypocrite~"

"E-Elizabeth!"

"You're not a health nut like Flora, at least acknowledge that this is something worth celebrating." He nodded at Elizabeth with a smile. "Look at him, he's all ready and willing and you're being the fun police."

"I'm being responsible. Either one of us has to be since we're both the eldest." She said, crossing her arms with a scowl. However, her cheeks were red. "But... I suppose I can allow it... As long as you're not going overboard with it. One pint only, okay?"

"Okay." He shrugged, "So, are we done with training for now?"

She nodded, "Yes. For now, we rest. This afternoon, we'll-" She frowned and turned to look at the bordering forest. Her gaze were sharp, it was as if she was trying to kill something with just a glare.

"You're seeing this, Arturia?" Elizabeth said as she walked to his blonde older sister. She was frowning as well. "What in good gods' name is it doing here. This might be the Frontier, but why is it so close to the Wizard's territory...?"

 _Jaune, there's a Seer a hundred-and ten meters on your six._

He turned his body fully to face the direction of the forest... And saw that there was a floating, jellyfish-shaped Grimm with a black, partially transparent body and red flesh-like feelers. Within its body was a red glow that made it look like some sort of monstrous eye, 'Huh, never seen that type in any books on Grimm before...'

 _With good reason, it's a special Grimm with a direct connection to Salem herself, it's never something she created to be in the frontlines. She must've had caught wind of our hunt the night before._

'...Oh shit.'

 _Exactly. The fact that it's so close to civilization like this means that she's suspicious. Your sisters are right to be worried._

'Okay, so... what do we do? We should destroy it, right?'

 _We should let your sisters do it._

'What? Why?'

 _If we're the one to do it, it might set Salem's sight here, on your house and-_

'This isn't the only house we have available, we also have a couple of penthouses in Beacon City.'

 _That's not the point, Jaune._

'I know, if we attack it as Venom/Bane-' He needed to settle on one name, '-Salem will know about our existence. However, we can just destroy it using my Aura.'

 _Oh yeah..._

'And besides that, Salem must've already set her sight on this place because of our hunt, we won't have a lot of time to hide before a Grimm incursion occurs and it will. She must be looking for us.'

 _Well, for me mostly.._

'We're in this together, if she's looking for you, she'll have to face both of us together.'

 _...Thanks, Jaune._

'No problem. Anyway, either way things go, we're already heading for a confrontation that'll pull us and the whole town of Virginia into it.'

 _Virginia?_

'It's a Frontier Town near here. My family is one of its sworn protectors. Salem must want you so badly if she's actually looking around with something that has a direct connection to her.'

 _Well I AM a thorn at her side that just keeps on growing back..._

'So you get it now, right? There's no way that we can hide so we might as well fight.'

 _You're right... Okay, let's destroy it._

'Alright then.' He commanded his Aura to Reinforce himself all over, focusing more on his legs. He needed to get to it fast.

 _I have an idea though._

'Oh? Do tell.'

 _Let's practice mixing your Aura and my mass._

Information flowed into him and it became knowledge. He knew what Anthea wanted to do and he knew _how_ to do it. '...Nice.'

He dashed forward, clearing up to five meters with every leaping steps and with every second, he did at least three of them. "Jaune?!" He heard Arturia yelling after him but he continued to run toward the Seer. He cleared a hundred meters in about seven seconds and the Seer stayed in place as its red glow seemed to be focusing on him.

 _Ah, it's trying to establish a link with me._

'Is it working?'

 _Nope. Thanks for that Jaune~_

He grinned as he Coated his hands more than the rest of his body, 'You're welcome.' He leaped the rest of the five meters, his hands extended toward the Seer's body. The moment it made contact, he Infused the Grimm with his Aura, making it glow bright white.

He established a link between him and the Grimm and by proxy, he also linked up with the witch. In his mind's eye, he saw her pale face that were riddled with black veins, eyes with red irises and black scleras that were wide open, an expression of shock on her face as her mouth was agape.

'Hi.' His Aura flowed into the Seer, overpowering the hold the witch had with its nature of Power and then, with Unity, he bound the Seer's existence to him with him as the dominant force. 'Bye.' He cut off its link with Salem and let Anthea emerge from his chest in the shape of an amorphous black mass outlined with a bright white glow that quickly enveloped the Grimm's body and pulling the rest of it into itself before Anthea went back inside him.

He landed back on his two feet with almost no sound on the spot that the Seer had been 'standing' on. "Now that's something..."

"Jaune!" He turned and saw bot Arturia and Elizabeth a few meters away from him. Both of them were looking at him with wide eyes, mouth agape and sweat trailing down their flawless skins. "Jaune... What was that?" Arturia, his blonde eldest sister, looked as if her whole world had been turned upside down.

'...Considering the angle, they must've only seen my back, right?'

 _Sure, but don't say anything that can make them suspicious of you like asking 'How much did you see?'._

'Don't worry, I won't easily trigger a red flag like that.'

"Jaune... Brother... Did you just... consume that Grimm with your Aura?" Elizabeth said as she approached him.

"We saw you glowing when you touched that Grimm... And then it was gone. Jaune, did you really... _eat_ that Grimm with your Aura?"

"...Yeah." He nodded, "Unifying Power, remember? That's my Semblance. So I just overpowered the Seer with my Aura, force it to unite with me and..." He spread his arms wide and smiled at them, "Voila."

Arturia and Elizabeth kept staring at him with wide eyes and mouth agape.

 _...How long will they stay like that?_

'A few minutes maybe? Hopefully not for long because... this is getting awkward...'

 **To Be Continued...**

In this story, Aura has a passive and active mode. Passive mode is emitting Aura at its lowest possible output while active mode is putting more to increase its efficiency. Depending on quantity and quality of the Aura a person has, the lowest and upmost limit of Aura output can differ. Passive mode is always on for any Aura user, if it's ever turned off, then that means the user has exhausted their 'tank'/in a coma/dead. Aura makes people into proper superhumans here, closer to demigods than normal human beings. Also, Aura techniques like Coating, Reinforcement and Infusion are not really in the actual show.

Also, Beacon City, Frontier Town, Wizard's territory, these are AU stuff.


	3. Chapter 3

**Last Chapter Summary:** Jaune talked with his Grimm, gave her a name that she liked, met with his sister Flora and Elizabeth, revealed to them that he's unlocked his Aura before going to sleep, come morning, Arturia trained him a bit, got stopped by Elizabeth, both Arturia and Elizabeth then saw a Seer Grimm, drawing Jaune's attention to it. He and his Grimm Anthea talked a bit and then they attacked the Grimm, saw the witch for a bit and consumed it whole.

 **Chapter 2: Grimm Night**

"Hey everyone~! How are you all... doing...?"

He couldn't blame his younger twin sister to stop at the sight that met her eyes when she entered through the front door. There he was, sitting in the living room along with Arturia and Elizabeth who were surrounding him on the same couch while Flora sat on the couch across from them, separated by the coffee table. There was this gloom hanging in the air of the room even though it was still afternoon. Sure, the sun was starting to dip and making the sky darker, but that wasn't important.

"Oh my, what's going on here?" From behind his twin, their older sister Kyrke peek her head out of his twin's right side, showing her long pink hair highlighted with bright blonde on the tips. Then, she stepped into view, showing her petite form clad in sleeveless white gown, a pair of form-fitting black shorts and high platform shoes. "Why is it so tense here?"

"Is... everything okay?" His younger, female twin, clad in a white robe that went down to the knees, a dark blue corset, white thigh-high heeled shoes plated in silver-like metal that she also wore in the form of vambraces that laid over her white gloves that stopped at her shoulders walked toward an empty couch across from the one he was occupying. "I thought we're here just to see Jaune's Aura but why does it feel like there's some sort of... intervention?"

"Oh we're doing that alright, but we're waiting for everyone else to come." Elizabeth said as she stood up, leaving her spot that was immediately to his left, "You want something to drink? You guys would need it."

"I don't drink, Elizabeth, you know that." His twin said.

"Oh I can use some ale." Kyrke said as she sat down right beside his twin.

"Alright Kyr. And Jeanne? Trust me, you'd like a drink." Elizabeth said to his twin as she walked past the adjacent dining room and into the kitchen. "Even Flora drank a bit after we told her what Jaune can do."

"Really?" His twin looked at Flora with wide eyes.

"Hm." His health nut medic of a sister to his right nodded, "The implications of Jaune's Aura and what he can do with it is... not easy to digest."

He snorted and smiled. "Heh, digest..."

"Jaune." Turning to his left, he saw Arturia glaring at him... but he kept smiling, "...Don't make light of this."

"It looks like I _have_ to make light of this, Artie. Flora did a check-up on my Aura and found no weird things about it, right?" _If she had been more thorough in her scanning though..._ He held himself from wincing at the thought. "Really, I'm fine."

"That's the thing Jaune, you being fine after you _ate_ a Grimm with your Aura is _not_ normal. You. _Ate._ A. Grimm."

It's just like Elizabeth to be so blunt... "He what?!" He winced at his twin's sudden scream. He looked over to her and found her just a few inches away from him as she then grabbed his shoulders. "Jaune? You... You ate a Grimm?"

"Not literally, I used my Aura."

"Not like it makes any difference!" Elizabeth said from the kitchen.

"I'm not a savage who eats ashes with my mouth, Liz, I used my Aura to consume them, there _is_ a difference!" He turned to his twin and sighed, "Yes, I ate a Grimm. My Semblance allows me to create a symbiotic link with the things I overpower with my Aura and _also_ absorb them if I want to. Unifying Power, I call it."

Jeanne let go of his shoulders and stood up. Her eyes were still wide however."And... what happened to the Grimm?"

"Oh it gets better. Show them what you can do now, Jaune!"

He sighed and let out his Aura, making it brighter and willed his current clothes to change from tanktop and sweatpants to a black t-shirt and a pair of blue jeans. He dialed down the output, dimming the light until he no longer glowed.

Jeanne gasped and pointed at the new clothes he was now wearing, "This... Are those...?"

Kyrke tilted her head a bit to the right and touched her chin with her index finger. "...You can change your clothes?"

"That's Grimm mass, Kyrke. GRIMM MASS! Apparently, when he first told us how he unlocked his Aura, he forgot to tell us that he lost consciousness and when he woke up, he was all fine and dandy with no Grimm in sight because somehow, someway, his Aura _ATE_ them!"

"How was I supposed to know?!" It was another lie that he had to make up on the spot, but considering everything, it held up quite well. It was a mistake to change Anthea into the clothes he dressed up in the first place when he came back home, but then again, he had been riding the high from the hunt he did together with her, "And I'm sorry about lying to you, it's just... I couldn't think of anything else that would make you get off my back quicker than, you know... Guilt-tripping you."

"I _knew_ I should have ensured that you couldn't think up of a lie..." Flora said, glowering at him, "Then again, I wasn't in a state to look at things closely... A rookie mistake, I can't believe I didn't pick up on the fact that your clothes should not have gone unscathed if you were attacked by Grimm..."

"We were worried for the dolt, Flora." Elizabeth said as she walked toward Jeanne and Kyrke and put down two pints, one full of beer and the other full of ale. "I should've seen through it too, but I was just glad that he came home unhurt and with his Aura unlocked to boot."

"Sorry..." That was all that he could say really.

"You _should_ be sorry." Elizabeth said... And sighed as she went and retook her seat on the couch, "Seriously... Though I'm more annoyed at the fact that I didn't catch up on such an obvious tell. Flora is the same, I'd bet." Flora turned and directed her glare at Elizabeth, "Yup, it's the same."

He then felt Arturia's hand rubbing his clothes. Looking over at his eldest sister, he saw her looking at his changed clothes, especially at the black t-shirt he was wearing. "Artie, I'm fine. Really."

"They're still made out of Grimm..."

"I know, but again, my Semblance, remember? I'm fine, Artie."

Arturia sighed as she pulled her hand back. "...Sorry. But Jaune, out of all of us, you're the only one who has this kind of Semblance. Even if we count Kyrke's ability to infuse animalistic strength to other people without turning them into Faunus, this is something else entirely. Assimilation of Grimm and Aura... This is unprecedented."

"Jaune." He looked up and saw his twin's face that was full of concern, "Are you really... okay?"

"...I am, Jeanne." He sighed and stood up, towering over his younger twin with her height of 5 feet 4 inches (161 cm) and grabbed her by her shoulders. She felt the tension in her shoulders, the concern she was feeling for him manifested into the world . "I'm okay, really. I'm in control." He needed to assure her that he was okay even if he wasn't going to tell the full story to her.

Jeanne sighed but he felt her relaxing, slumping her shoulders. He succeeded to a degree as he could still see her blue eyes filled with doubt. "If you say so... But maybe we should have you see a doctor or maybe an Aura reader? Kyrke, you can-"

"Nah, he's fine." His petite older sister said as she waved her hand dismissively, "You're worrying too much Jeanne, I can feel his Aura from here and he's fine."

 _Jaune, could she have sensed me?_

'I don't know, Kyrke is one of the best Aura Readers around, a lot better than Flora, but maybe, even with her skill, she only sensed the surface of our soul.' He smiled and nodded, "See Jeanne?"

"Hmmm... If you say so, sister." Jeanne sighed, gently pushing his hands off her shoulders and going to sit right beside Kyrke. "This is all too much too sudden..."

"How about that beer then?" Elizabeth said with a grin.

He watched as Jeanne look at the pint of beer for a moment, took a long deep breath before exhaling, "I-I think I'll pass."

"Sure thing, but keep that there. Who knows? You might change your mind. And as for you, get back down here." Elizabeth then reached her left hand to him and pulled him back down on the couch, making him crash down butt-first. "We're going to keep you here until mom and dad gets here. We don't want a repeat of last night's incident."

"I'm not running away, Liz." Confronting his parents was something that he wanted to do. What would they think of him having unlocked his Aura and having the power that would let him match his sisters and maybe even the veteran Huntsmen at that? He wanted to see their reaction, the emotion(s) on their faces and from there, he would be able to see what they really think of him.

They had been very adamant on not letting his Aura be unlocked and somehow they got his sisters to follow their order. They gave him some hope in the possibility of unlocking his Aura himself but they never told him what to do other than train his ass off and getting hurt doing so in hopes of triggering it. Whatever their reasoning was, he wanted to see what they really think of him having this power.

With that decided, he waited. There were only four people left to come to this impromptu 'party' of a sort that Artie had arranged and the final four guest of honor arrived almost an hour later, early in the evening.

"Ah." Kyrke said, tilting her head up. "They're here." She said, "Claudia, Galea and, hmhm, it seems mother and father actually decided to come as well." His petite older sister leaned back on her couch, put her legs up and hugged them close, "Be ready, Claudia's charging in headfirst."

"Ah." He could hear the sound of footfalls stomping the ground and it was getting closer and closer. It was the telltale of her second youngest sister coming, the fireball of overbearing passion that was Claudia Arc. He heard the sound of footfalls hitting the ground then hitting the wooden floor of the porch and then, the front door is slammed open.

"We have arrived!" Claudia Arc stood in the opened door her right hand extended. "Where is our dear brother?!" She said speaking as if she had the authority of a king, an emperor who was grinning widely with her green eyes sparkling with glee, amusement and curiosity.

Her petite stature reflected her status as one of the two youngest sisters of the Arc family but she was quite well-developed. Her blonde hair styled in a bun similar to Arturia, her green eyes were of a lighter tint than the eldest sister's and where Arturia is defined by blue, Claudia's color is red with golden accents.

Clad in a high-collared red dress shirt accented in golden that had an inverted triangle-shaped opening on the center of her chest, a pair of white skirt, a pair of red leggings and high-heeled boots plated with gold-like metal, she was the very definition of regal confidence. "Ah, there you are!" She moved as if she were gliding across the room before she got in front of him, bent down and grabbed him by the sides of his head, "Hm... You didn't change that much, but we can feel there's something different about you brother~! Umu, you have indeed unlocked your Aura and the power...! We can feel it simmering like brewing magma of a volcano just ready to be let out... As expected of our brother!"

He smiled at the way his sister described his power. Out of all of his sisters, the ones who were the most sensitive to Aura and could read them like a book were Kyrke and Claudia but his younger sister's skill in it is not as refined as Kyrke's. Claudia had immense innate talent for it but she left it untapped because of her own personal reasons. "Thanks, sis."

"Hello everyone..." He turned to the door and saw his other younger sister, Galea Arc, entering the room with much less fanfare, "Everyone's here, I see." Short purplish pink hair, purple eyes, fair skin and beautiful face, if Claudia was stunning, Galea was more humble. Clad in black bodysuit-and-skirt hybrid with purple accents, a pair of silver plated black leggings and heeled shoes, she walked to him and bowed a bit, "Um, congratulations on unlocking your Aura, brother..."

He nodded, smiling at the two differing congratulations he got from his youngest sisters. Claudia and Galea contrasted each other the same way Arturia contrasted Elizabeth or the way Flora contrasted Kyrke. Twin pairings they might all be just like he and Jeanne were but the duality between all of them were quite obvious.

"Claudia, Galea, give your brother some room to breathe."

"Hm." Claudia nodded as she pulled back her hands and walked toward an empty spot on the couch across from him, "If only you are as powerful of an Aura Reader as we are, mother, you would see that our brother possess just as much potential as I have!"

"Really?" His mother, Lily Arc, stepped into the living room. Tall, slender form with long well-groomed pink hair wearing a red short-sleeved formal dress shirt, a pair of form-fitting beige pants, a pair of black skirt, the green-eyed woman smiled as she looked into Claudia's eyes, "Are you sure? You are quite talented yourself."

Claudia really was when it came to quite a lot of skills such as fighting, leading, manipulating her Aura... But his mother could be a less blunt about it when he was in earshot. "Umu! There is no doubt in my heart nor in my talent, his sheer potential matches mine!"

"And coming from the girl who claimed that she has all the makings of a great Emperor ever since she could speak, that means a lot, mother." Elizabeth said with half-lidded eyes, looking at their mother without flinching. "But please, talk him down, it's not like he's not nearby."

He scoffed and smiled at the ribbing. "Liz." Arturia said, being the one who would always have to discipline others when their manners were less than acceptable.

"It's alright Arturia." Lily said as she then looked at him. He met her eyes without flinching... And she simply smiled... And flinched a little bit. He almost missed it with how minute it was... But he didn't know what it meant. Was she a bit intimidated by him not willing to back down from meeting her eyes? Did she simply not like it or...?

'Anthea?'

 _Hm... Discomfort, sadness, anguish..._

'...Hm.' So to some extent, she was a bit saddened by him... But was it because he unlocked his power or was it because he was not breaking eye contact? "What do you think, mom?" Might as well face and ask her directly.

"Well..."

"Hello everyone."

'Ah, and there's the man of the hour.' Looking over to the door, he saw a man of tall stature, a head taller than Lily whose short hair is of bright blonde that matched his with a body built with compact muscles. Wearing a short-sleeved white dress shirt with a black pocketed vest suit right over it, a pair of dark blue trousers and a pair of black boots. "Hey dad." John Arc, the man of the house, the _only_ other man in the house.

"Jaune." The man nodded with a smile. "Arturia told me that you've unlocked your Aura. Can we see it?"

Flora cleared her throat, drawing his attention along with everyone else's. "Father, would it not have been prudent for you to ask if he's fine first?"

"Yeah it's not like Arturia didn't tell you that he nearly got himself killed out there trying to unlock his Aura all by himself or anything." Elizabeth said, "If it weren't for the fact that his Semblance is stupid powerful, he would've died."

"But he is here now, isn't he?" His father said and... to a degree, he agreed with the man. He's here, all fine so there was no need to be vindictive... "Your mother and I _were_ worried when Arturia first explained things but seeing that he's come out of it unscathed, there's no reason to worry about things needlessly." But he also felt a bit irritated by how nonchalant he was.

 _He's... conflicted, Jaune._

'...If so then he's got a good poker face.' A man who knew how to lie and make it believable, how to mask his true emotions from others... '...I got it from him, huh?' That left a bitter taste in his mouth. He stood up, drawing the others' attention to him and said; "Let's get this over with."

The man nodded, "Go ahead Jaune."

"..." He looked right into the man's eyes, the blue eyes that he shared, in silence.

His father raised his eyebrows. "What?"

"...This is the first time I've ever heard or seen you so supportive of me." He heard his voice and felt satisfied at the flatness of it, "Feels nice."

There was a twitch on the eyebrow and on the edges of his lips. The man's poker face broke for a moment and he felt satisfied. "Jau-"

He put his Aura into active mode and pushed it further beyond what he showed this afternoon, casting the room in a white glow, cutting off whatever his father wanted to say. It hummed, thrumming with power and fueled by all his frustrations and anger. This, this was his power, the thing that his parents tried to keep him away from.

"O-oh my..."

"Oh..."

"Umu Umu!"

"Jaune, it's too bright!"

"Huh."

Looking over at his dear old dad, he saw that he was looking straight at him despite the brightness that he was emitting. There was a look of shock on his face. 'Seeing is believing.' _Now_ the man had no other choice than to acknowledge his power that he and his wife didn't want to unlock and cultivate like they did with his sisters.

He let the light die down a bit, looked at his mother who was a bit wide-eyed with her mouth slightly open; "...How is it?" He said.

"...It's... Impressive, Jaune." His mother said with a strained smile.

He frowned, glared at Lily, his mother, right in the eye... "You could've at least _act_ more enthusiastic about it, mom."

"Jaune!"

"Oh let him vent, Artie!"

"Liz, you-!"

"What's wrong?" He felt heat rising up from his heart and spreading through his blood vessels. His mother was not smiling, neither was his father, they were... displeased, worried, concerned... Why? "What? What is it? Is it _wrong_ for me to have this kind of power, is that it?"

"Well..." His mother turned and looked at John... But he was not breaking eye contact with his father, "It's not that, Jaune, it's-"

"You two told me to try and unlock my Aura on my own and here I am." He spread his arms, "Isn't this what you wanted? Isn't this what you want me to achieve? Or are you disappointed that I'm not dead in the process?"

"Wha-?!" Lily let out a gasp as her eyes went wide, "Jaune, what makes you think-?"

" _Everything_ about you two refusing to unlock my Aura makes me think that." The heat that was simmering within him was now seeping out of his skin, enveloping him in red haze... Yet his head felt cold even when his heart was beating like a drum being banged by a heavy metal band drummer playing their famous drum solo. "You made me work on my own, you forbid my sisters to help me unlock my Aura and now that I managed to do it, _this_ is your reaction?"

His father John raised his hand, "Calm down, Jaune."

"Do I _not_ sound calm?"

"Your fists are shaking."

"Ah, sorry about that." He smiled and let out a chuckle, "It's just my parents looking at me with concern instead of pride after I managed to do what they told me to do after nearly killing myself, it _really_ makes my corn _pop,_ you know?"

"Jaune..." His father sighed before nodding, "Yes, your Aura is indeed powerful... One of the most powerful I've ever felt, like Arturia's."

He blinked. His father sounded... genuine. _He is. He's simply stating the facts after all._ "...Thanks." But while a form of acknowledgement was better than nothing... "But what do you really _feel_ about me unlocking my Aura, _dad_?"

"Well... It seems that... your mother and I..." John turned to Lily who gave him a tight smile before turning back to him, "Would have to train you now." His father gave him a smile and a few chuckles, "How about it, Jaune?"

His right eye twitched and he crossed his arms. They wanted to start now when they had been training Arturia and the others when they reached five years of age? "...About ten years too late for that."

"Yup, a full decade, the big ol' ten." Liz said from her seat. "Too little too late."

Arturia stood up and glared at the one whom he was glad to have made the remark, "Elizabeth, that's enough. Mother, father, I will help you train Jaune as well an-"

"You know what?" He raised his right hand, "I'd rather be trained by Arturia and my sisters than by you two."

"J-Jaune!"

"Before you came along, Artie gave me some training on Aura techniques and if I ask her, I have no doubt that she would teach me more. Sorry, your job has already been done."

"Jaune." Flora stood up, "I understand your frustrations," He narrowed his eyes, "but behaving like this isn't-"

"With all due respect Flora, you don't _understand_ my frustrations." He said, interrupting her busybody of a sister, "I can understand how it frustrates you that you're not allowed to help me, but you can't _possibly_ get how I feel being outshined by you, by _all_ of you."

"...Umu. Brother is correct." Claudia said, her voice somber and quiet as she nodded. "But... do you hate us then, brother?"

Looking at all his sisters from the youngest to the eldest, he saw their curiosity combined with anxiety. They wanted to know if he hated them and to that, there was only one thing he could say... "...No." He shook his head, "I don't hate any of you." Turning over to his parents, he narrowed his eyes, "After all, you're not the one who chose to not help me in the first place."

"...Now Jaune..." His father raised his hands, "I un..." He saw his father wince. Good, at least he knew what word not to use, "...I'm sorry. _We're_ sorry." He gestured to Lily, "But we can do better now, I promise you, I'll-"

"Tell me something, dad, mom." He was glad that his father apologized, but... "Why? Why did you not want to unlock my Aura to begin with? Why did you not want to train me like you train my sisters? Why did you..." He took a deep breath, "Why did you just give up on me before I could even show you what I'm capable of?"

Silent filled the room and after a second of the choking tension, he shook his head. "You know what? Forget it. Forget I asked you anything." He walked to the front door.

"No." Arturia went and stood right in front of him, her arms spread. "You won't run away again, Jaune, I-!"

He flashed her with his Aura active, blinding her and everyone else, forcing them to cover their eyes. He ran away.

"D-damn it...! Jaune...? Jaune!"

"He's gone!"

"Everyone, search around the house and the forest, he can use his Aura to move faster, but it would make him a big beacon!"

"Kyrke, can you sense where he is?"

"Hm... He's already out. Last I sensed him, he was going North."

"What?! How-?!"

"Never mind that! Move out!"

"I'll stay in the house. One of us has to, and who would do it better than me?"

"Okay Kyrke, everyone else, c'mon!"

Sitting upon the the roof of his house while camouflaged, he watched as all of his sisters save one and his parents went out in a group, going north, toward the forest. He closed his eyes and sighed. _So we've been found out, huh?_ 'Yup.' From within the house, his petite older sister stepped out, walked for a bit to the grassy ground, turned and looked up straight at him. 'That's Kyrke for you...'

"They're gone, Jaune." She said as she raised her right hand and waved it up and down by the wrist, "Come down, I'll make you some kykeon."

He sighed and willed his Grimm Suit to turn off its camouflaging ability. He dropped down to the ground and walked toward Kyrke who continued to smile as she tilted her head up to meet his eyes. He let out another sigh. Those light pink eyes of hers could see through him. Literally. "...How much can you feel?"

"Oh just enough." She grabbed him by his hand and pulled him back to the house and into the living room, "I won't tell anyone if you won't though."

 _...She's... not scared? Or mad?_

'Kyrke's the same as Flora... A bit weird when it comes to certain things... But... this is a good thing, I think. What do you feel from her?'

 _Amusement mostly, but... not in a condescending way. But how much does she know?_

He huffed. That was the question that was worth a million Lien. Still though, considering that she was really not going to tell the others what she knew or thought of if he wasn't willing to do so in the first place made his shoulders feel lighter at least. "...Thanks, sis."

"No problem. It's not like any of them would understand that your darkness is not malicious."

He winced. That was it, the confirmation that she knew more about him than all of his other sisters. "So you know then?"

"Know what?"

"That my power... Is not just my Aura."

"Oh yes. From the moment our hands touched." His eyes widened as her smile did the same. She let go of his hand, turned to face him and pressed her extended right index finger to his chest. "I can feel both the light and the shadow within you. But even though it's Darkness, it's not malicious nor harmful but neutral if not beneficial, a symbiotic life instead of a leeching parasite."

"Yeah... So uh..."

"Sit down first, Jaune." His sister turned away and walked toward the kitchen, "We'll talk over kykeon."

He sighed and did as he was told, sitting back on one of the couches in the living room and leaned back against the soft leather. Looking over at his sister who was now pouring some things on two bowls, he frowned. "...Why aren't you going to tell the others, sis? Not that I don't appreciate it, but..."

"Because they need to get used to you having powers first. Give it a few weeks, get them used to you having Aura and maybe then consider telling them."

"Oh... Yeah that makes sense."

His sister then came, bringing two bowls of a bright colored beverage of wine, barley and some cheese mixed into them. She extended one bowl for him, making him sit up straight to grab it with both of his hands. "Drink. You're an adult now."

He nodded, took a sip... And winced. The taste was strong, a bit _too_ strong. "Mm."

"This is your first alcohol, yes? You'll get used to the taste." Kyrke said as she took a seat to his right. "So... Do you know why our parents treat you differently?"

He blinked. What? He turned to his sister who took a sip of her kykeon, as nonchalant as ever despite what she just said, "...No... Do _you,_ sis?"

"I do." She nodded, "Out of all of our sisters, I'm the only one who does."

"...So, why?"

"Because you're not as special as us."

He winced. That was... That was harsh and blunt. He took another sip of the kykeon, taking in more than his first one, "Mmm."

"There there." His sister patted him on the back, "On some level, you already know this, don't you?"

He sighed "Yeah..." He was the odd one out of the eight siblings. Arturia, Elizabeth, Flora, Kyrke, Jeanne, Claudia and Galea all stood out, greatest examples of raw talent and beauties while he was just... average all over. He had known for a long time that he wasn't much compared to them, a harsh truth that was not helped by how his own parents treated him.

"There is a reason for that, Jaune."

"Yeah?" This he had to hear. That statement before, while blunt and harsh was not something that he was blind to. He knew that his sisters were of a different level than he was but the _why_ and the _how_ was not something he truly knew. "What's the reason, sis?" Why was he not as special as his sisters?

"Hmm... Where to start...? Ah, I know." She cleared her throat, "Once upon a time, when the world is not a Remnant of what it once was, back when the Moon was whole, before The Light graced the planet, there existed extraordinary, remarkable people known as Heroes."

"Sis, a fairy tale? Really?" He had heard this before, it was the start of the bedtime stories that his parents used to tell them all, him included, before bed, a story that would give them hope and-

Kyrke put her dainty hand on his lips, "Hush now, Jaune." She pulled back her hand, "Heroes. Men and women alike who accomplished many extraordinary deeds that made them stand above all others. They were kings, warriors, scholars, people from all schools of life and what they accomplished were so great... that the world itself could never forget them." She then looked at Jaune with a gleam in her eyes, "With me so far, Jaune?"

"Yeah, is this where you'd go and tell the tales of... I don't know, Great King Arthur, Pioneer Francis Drake, The Angel of Mercy Nightingale or something?"

"Hmhm, you remember all their stories huh? Who's your favorite among them, Jaune?"

"Huh?"

"Who's your favorite Hero out of all the ones our parents have told?"

"I...I guess... Arthur and Francis..."

"The King and the Great Pioneer, huh? Hm, as expected of a boy, you like stories of larger-than-life men." She said with a teasing smile.

"W-well..."

"No need to feel bashful, it's good to look up to great figures such as them. Boys should strive to be great men who changes the world one way or another." His sister said, "Drink your kykeon again, Jaune..."

Her tone was... It felt like she was encouraging him. "...Why?"

"Just drink it."

He frowned but did as he was told, took two sips of the kykeon that... felt tastier now. "Okay..."

"These Heroes, Jaune... Do you think that we are named after them?"

"...Well, yeah." It was obvious that his parents named his sisters and even him, to some degree, after the great Heroes from the fairy tales. He and his younger twin are named after Saint Jeanne after all.

"Hm. What if I tell you that it's the other way around?"

"...Huh?"

"What if I tell you... that we're not named _after_ them... But because we _were_ and _are_ them?"

He blinked. Once. Twice. Thrice. Was he... getting drunk? Was he _hearing_ hallucinations? _No, you're not._...Did that make it better or worse? "I'm... not sure I follow you, sis..."

"Oh you understand me just fine, you're smart enough, Jaune." She said with a grin, "You're only struggling to come around to it."

"...But..." The stories of the Heroes he had heard growing up, Great King Arthur, Francis Drake, Florence Nightingale, Circe the Druid, Saint Jeanne, Nero Claudius, The Gallant Galahad, stories of their victories and tragedies and all that came with them... "So..." Arturia, Elizabeth, Flora, all of them,... "So... You, all of you," All of her sisters without exception, "Are... reincarnations of... Those Heroes?"

"Mm-hm."

"And..." He clenched his fists as his eyes narrowed. His mind was connecting all the dots, making sense of his sister's claim of him not being special and he came to a conclusion... "The reason why I'm not as special... Is because... I'm not... like you?"

Kyrke nodded.

"...Wait a minute, so... Did our parents... do a ritual or something to make all of this happen?" It sounded outlandish, but... If what his sister was saying true, then it must involve something involving magic, and whenever it came to magic... "Did they make a pact with the Wizard?"

"Yes, they did." Kyrke ruffled his hair a bit, "I told you you're smart enough."

"So... wha-what am I?" If his parents had planned this from before they had given birth to him... He put down the bowl of kykeon to his left side, "If I'm not like you, then what am I?"

"You are your own being."

"...I'm a mistake, aren't I?" It all made sense now, his parents' favoritism, the lack of effort they put into training him... "That's why they never wanted to unlock my Aura themselves, they thought that it would be a waste of time, they never expected _anything_ from me." His eyes widened again, "And my name... Because I'm not a reincarnation, they just named me after Jeanne..."

"That is also true."

"...Fuck."

 _Jaune, i-it's okay._

"It's not okay, Anthea, none of this is okay."

"Anthea?" He flinched. He said that out loud, didn't he? "Ah, you've named the Darkness in you. That's a nice name, very appropriate."

He looked back at his sister... and found himself a bit afraid of her. She looked so... nonchalant, somewhat amused even. "...Sis, I..." He closed his eyes and leaned back against the couch, "...I-I need some time alo-" He felt slender arms wrapping themselves around his neck and a petite body pressing against his. He opened his eyes and saw Kyrke hugging him and putting her head on top of his chest. "S-sis?

"Being left on your own is not what you needed."

"...Sis..."

Kyrke sighed, "...When our parents found out that you were not a reincarnation, they were confused. You were not meant to be born, yet here you are. You might think you're a mistake, but... The ritual that reincarnated us is supposed to be fool-proof, it's supposed to draw souls of Heroes from their Throne, it has been tested many times and there were no incidents where a non-reincarnated soul was born until you, a unique human being, came along. That makes you a miracle, Jaune, not a mistake."

Miracle. His mind latched onto and clung to that word instead of the other 'M' he had used before. "Hm, you're less tense now, Jaune." He looked down and he saw her tilting her head up, looking at him with a smile.

"...Yeah." Kyrke was right. He shouldn't have been left alone with his own thoughts, even with Anthea in him. 'No offense.'

 _None taken. She is quite wise, more so than me. She must've planned this situation a long time ago..._

'Well... as expected of a reincarnated Hero, I guess...' He hugged his sister, wrapping his arms around her back and pulled her closer. "Thanks, sis."

She let out a giggle, "Hmhmhm~ No problem. Anyway... though we are reincarnated Heroes, our parents have to train us because we are a bit... imperfect when we were reborn as humans. We needed to grow back to adulthood to be able to access our full power and even then, we needed to be re-trained. In a way, they had to work to remake us into the Heroes that we were."

"...Did... did the others know about this?"

"Hmm... I think it's only me. After all, I'm the only one out of all of us who's able to use Magic properly so I have an upper hand when it comes to examining my own soul."

"I see..." He frowned as a thought came to him. Considering that they had planned to give birth to reincarnated Heroes with some ritual and consequently train them all to fight... "But... If our parents planned this... Then doesn't it mean that they're..." He grimaced, the words were in his head and they disgusted him already, but he had to say them out loud: "That they're _breeding_ and... and _grooming_ you all to be... soldiers?"

"Warriors, not soldiers."

"...what's the difference?"

"Well, would you call any of the warrior Heroes in the stories our parents told us as soldiers?"

His very first thought was... "No." He couldn't. To call Heroes like Cu Chulainn, Achilles, Karna and those like them as soldiers... felt like a disservice to them even if they all participated in wars just like soldiers often do. "But still, they gave birth to you so that you can fight the Grimm... That's-"

"Jaune, they also gave us some semblance of normality." She stopped him in his tracks. "They didn't treat us like animals or their subordinates, they treat us like we're their own children." She then grabbed him by his cheek and forced him to look into her eyes, "Can you honestly tell me that any of us, your sisters, are mistreated by them?

He grimaced. "...No."

"Have they ever abuse or 'discipline' us with no good reason?"

His eyes scrunched shut. Though it was painful, he said; "No." His parents were never abusive to all of their children, neither him nor his sisters were treated so low... Unless whenever it came to trying to discourage him from having Aura.

"And there you go." She let go of his cheek and put her hand on his chest. "Our parents aren't evil, Jaune. They misjudged you, underestimated you and I und... _sympathize,_ with your resentment, but they never had any malicious intentions when it comes to us. _All_ of us."

"...Okay." That was all that he could say. He felt like he had just eaten something heavy and bitter and it was hitting his stomach like an asteroid. "...Still a shitty thing to do though..." He couldn't help but to say that out loud.

She sighed and patted his chest. "There there... I don't know if this will make you feel any better about it, but our parents aren't the only ones doing it."

"...T-there are others?"

"Mm~hm, remember those 'clan' events that they never took you to?"

"...Oh gods, how many people are in on this?"

"Quite a number of them. But." She poked his nose, "Our parents are not heartless, Jaune. They _do_ see us as their children, they treat us all as such, they are tender and/or tough depending on the situation. However, when it comes to you, they are more... coddling."

"Coddling?"

"They don't want you to risk your life as an Aura user. In a way, they see you as even more precious than us. In their minds, even if it hurts your feelings, it's better for you to be living safe and relatively risk-free as a civilian."

...It was to protect him. They saw him as a treasure that needed to be kept in some safe place instead of a warrior-to-be. "...Shit." Though it was shitty, he could sympathize with their views a bit. They had good intentions, not malicious ones. He felt heavy lead filling up his stomach at the thought of how he treated them before and-

"Don't be so regretful about the way you treated them just now, Jaune." He turned to his sister and she was... pouting, "Good intentions or not, what they did to you wasn't right either. The reason why they told you about how to unlock your Aura yourself is because they thought you would give up before long and how many times did you end up hurting yourself, Jaune? Their intentions doesn't justify their methods, especially with how... Well, let's just say there's a reason why your sisters could not help you even though we wanted to, Jaune..."

Kyrke's eyes were narrowed but her sight was not focused on anything. "...Sis?"

She sighed and patted his chest, "Anyway... Don't immediately think that what they did to you is justified. You have a reason to not like them and it's understandable, I personally think it's justified. No matter what others might say, you have a good reason for how you feel about them, okay?"

...The heavy lead in his stomach vanished. "...Right. O-of course." She huffed and smiled at her. "...Thanks for telling me all this, sis."

"Hmhm~ So I'm still your sister, hm?"

"W-well yeah... Reincarnation or not, we all have the same parents, don't we?"

"Hm, such a simplistic way of thinking... But I like it." She let out a blissful sigh, "...I thought you should know this now that things have come to a head."

"To a head?"

"Mm-hm. Now that you've unlocked your Aura and it turns out to be powerful, you've proven to our parents that they should not have treated you like a fragile thing. And then not to mention Anthea..." She patted his chest, "...You've entered a dangerous world now, Jaune... I just hope that you-"

The sound of a Scroll's ringtone drew his attention. It came from the Scroll on the coffee table. Kyrke got off of him, picked the Scroll up and checked. "Hm... Ah, this is a bit bad."

"What is it?" He stood up and looked down at the Scroll in her hands, at the message written on the screen... "I-H3 From the East, heading to Virginia town? I-H3... That's a Huntsman term for something, right?" He remembered reading about them but kind of forgot the details...

"Yup. Imminent Grimm Incursion, Horde-sized,"

His eyes widened,"...Oh." He remembered now. Horde-sized meant that it was a one-type of Grimm numbering in the hundreds with the minimum numbers being a hundred. The 'I' stood for 'Incursion', the 'H' is for 'Horde' and the 3 must be the rough number, which meant there was about three-hundred Grimm coming from the East. "Hm... If this message is sent to you, then-"

"Yup, the others are most likely going to where they're coming from. Duty calls after all. And considering that I'm not feeling anything around our area, then we'll have to hold the fort."

"Hm..."

"Hmhm~" Kyrke tilted her head up, looking straight into his eyes with a smile, "You want to go, don't you Mr. Hero?"

He winced, smiling as he felt awkward by how on target Kyrke was. "...That obvious, huh?"

"I've known you for a long time, Jaune. You always have that look on your face whenever any of us had to mobilize to fight Grimm, a look of helplessness. But now that you have power, you need to know _when_ to fight and when _not_ to."

"...And you think that this isn't the time to fight?"

"If you ask me, no. Unless there's a Grimm coming to the house, there-" She stopped and frowned. "Hm, I should not have said that."

"...Does that really work that way?" Then again... "But... the Druid Circe..." Which Kyrke was, "It's not superstition, is it?"

"No. Hm..." She smiled and cupped her chin... "I'm afraid I might be inviting some calamity here..."

 _...Basically, we have to be prepared for battle, right?_

'Yeah...' He cleared his throat and looked around, 'Right, so... If something's going to happen here...' Then he had to think of what happened in terms of strategy. The Grimm had a leader after all, so if this Incursion is part of some sort of plan... 'This Incursion thing... Could Salem be using them as a distraction to send something here?'

 _It's possible..._

'Hm... Then what would she send here...?'

 _One of her more powerful creations, no doubt._

'Huh... and that would be...?'

 _Her so-called Knights. Beast-like Grimm are the equivalent of fodders and/or Siege Beasts, they are designed to kill unskilled, non-powered humans in droves and destroy buildings, especially fortifications. Sufficiently strong warriors can kill them in droves, but Knights are created for combat against skilled Huntsmen._

'Alright, so... Might as well prep ourselves now, huh?'

 _Yup._

'Alright then...' He took a deep breath, calling for Anthea to envelop him. The Suit materialized, covering him from top to bottom.

"Aaaah, there it is~" Kyrke said, approaching and stopping two inches away from him. She looked at him up and down with her sharp eagle-like eyes. She then touched and traced her hand on the Suit, right on his stomach, "Hmmm~ It looks like latex, but it feels like smooth human skin... Ah, I knew I was not imagining it, you've gotten quite a bit of muscle mass, haven't you, Jaune?"

"I... don't know. I haven't paid attention to that."

"You _have,_ Jaune, you have." She then looked up, focusing on his eyes. "Hm... Those big white eyes reminds me of bugs for some reason. It's not too intimidating either."

"Really?" he narrowed his eyes.

"Ah, that works better. Hm..." She took a step back and look at him up and down before pressing her hand on the center of his chest. "What about your symbol though?"

"Symbol? You mean the two Crescent Arcs?"

"If you want to use that, sure. But I'm talking about something more personal. Something that represents _you_. Perhaps you-" Kyrke stopped and tilted her head up. Her eyes were a bit vacant, as if she wasn't actually looking at the ceiling, "Ah. Jaune? A Grimm is coming here." She looked back at him with raised eyebrow, "You're preparing for that, aren't you?"

"Yeah."

"Hmm... How much does the Darkness in you know, Jaune?"

"...Quite a bit."

"Hm, alright, let's leave that talk for later." She walked briskly toward the back door, "C'mon. It's going to come down on our backyard."

"On our backyard?" He frowned but followed his sister out through the back door. "And coming down? From where?"

She kept walking in silence until they were a few meters away from their house. Then she pointed her thumb to the sky without looking at the direction she was pointing her thumb at, "From there." He followed the direction she was pointing at... And his eyes widened.

Kyrke was pointing at the broken moon... And from the same direction, there was a small asteroid covered in flames heading toward them. "K-Kyrke!"

"Don't worry." Turning over to his sister, she saw him snapping her left index finger and thumb. He turned back to the falling asteroid, he saw that it was covered in bright shimmering glow that made it veered off course, going over them and landed a few meters ahead of Circe, creating a trail of destroyed dirt and grass.

"Nice, sis!" He ran to her side and clenched his fists, changing the right one into a Hammerfist.

"Now, Jaune..."Kyrke said as colorful light burst forth from her chest, enveloping her and emerging from her back as a pair of glowing wings with numerous bright colors. She spread the wings wide and floated a few feet off the ground. "This Grimm that we will have to fight is not the ones that you've fought before. The fact that it's sent here in the first place means that _she_ has deemed you to be a big threat."

"...So... You know about that too?"

"Oh yes. Those who are close with The Wizard knows about The Witch, especially reincarnated Heroes who are as attuned to magic like me. And this... is one of her Knights."

The asteroid that landed shifted, transforming itself from being a big lump of rock into a more... humanoid form.

"...Huh, lack of eyes aside, it kinda looks like me."

"Indeed. But it is just its base form. It will change based on what _she_ had chosen to infuse into it... I wonder what-?"

The humanoid thing made out of Darkness warped, its whole body transforming again. It grew bigger, more muscular, its size became three times its prior size both in height and girth. Its bald head and blank face became more defined, turning into a snarling visage complemented with long mane-like hair that is swept back and somehow floating. It wore something reminiscent to a kilt that went down to his knees and its red eyes glowed as its black teeth were exposed with the sheer _rage_ that this Grimm-like humanoid beast emanated.

It roared, an indecipherable sound that made him and Anthea shiver as it then lifted its big right hand up... And summoned a big slab of sword that it then swung down.

He leaped to Kyrke, changing his Hammerfist back into his normal hand, caught her in his arms and held her in them as he flew away from the big swing. He landed a few meters away as the Knight's attack landed, splitting the earth and the sheer force shooting out of the slab continued its trajectory, heading _right_ toward the house... and split them into two from the foundation up to the roof, breaking apart the materials it hit, even the stone and concrete, into dust.

"Holy shit!" The sheer power, the destruction it caused.. What the hell was this monster?

"Hm..." While being carried like a bride in his arms, Kyrke hummed, "This is quite a pickle..." She said, her voice quiet and contemplative.

"S-sis?"

"Jaune, remember what I said about reincarnation of Heroes?"

"Y-yeah?" He felt his stomach becoming an empty cold void. "W-wait... Don't tell me that-"

"Mm-hm. The Wizard isn't the only one who has that trick up his sleeves." The cold void in his stomach spread throughout his body as the mountain of muscles turned to them with glowing red eyes that seemed to promise Doom. "He's a bit different thanks to The Witch's domineering command, but it's still him, with all his strength. Jaune... Meet Herakles."

"...Fuck."

 **To be Continued...**

 **Parents can be complicated sometimes.  
**

 **By the way, Kyrke is pronounced Keer-keh/Keer-kay.  
**

 **Also, RIP Stan Lee. Venom wouldn't exist without Spider-Man and Spider-Man wouldn't exist without Stan Lee. Excelsior!  
**


	4. Chapter 4

**Last Chapter Summary:** The Arc had a family meeting, Jaune showed his Aura to everyone, he got some lukewarm reception, got a bit mad, ran off and hid himself. His older sister Kyrke knew and called him out of hiding, had a bit of talk with BIG revelations about him and his sisters' origins, then, a big, nasty humanoid Grimm attacks their home.

 **Heads-up/Warning: Have watched Vol 6's Episode 3 and here to tell you that the Lore for this story is VERY different from canon RWBY. Thinking of maybe adding AL to the description which stands for Alternate Lore. It might be a bit redundant because it's supposed to fall under AU (Alternate Universe) anyway but might be worth a shot. Maybe.  
**

 **One thing should be clear now though: The world of Remnant of this story used to be Earth as we know it, not that world full of magic with two god brothers that Vol 6's Episode 3 showed. What happened to Earth that turned it to Remnant? That's part of the Alternate Lore. For now, here's another chapter of this story.  
**

 **Chapter 3: Grimm Night, the Sequel.**

The Mighty Herakles was a Hero in the old days of Pre-Remnant World, originating from an Old Country named Greece. He was the son of the Olympian God King named Zeus whose strength and durability is unrivaled by Mortals or even other strong beasts and he possessed wits that impressed even Athena, the Olympian God of Wisdom herself. Once, Herakles held the weight of the whole sky on his shoulders, proving his strength to be a match to Atlas, one of the mightiest of the Titan Gods, predecessors to the Olympians, who was known for his power.

He had heard the story of Herakles and his Twelve Labors from his parents before, the incredible tales of him performing seemingly impossible tasks using his powers and his wits had filled him with excitement and joy... But being face-to-face with the legend, he realized one thing: Hero he might be, but when you were his enemy, the word Hero might as well be synonymous with Monster. The snarling black teeth, glowing red eyes, darkened complexion... This was a Herakles who has been consumed by rage and madness, the same state in which he killed his wife and daughter, incited by the Olympian God Queen, Hera.

The Monster charged with his slab of a sword and he leaped up, going as far as fifty feet. Kyrke leaped from his bridal carry, got herself onto his back, wrapped both her hands and legs around his neck and waist respectively and spread her wings, taking both of them away. "S-sis?!"

"We need to get to the others, a Herakles consumed by madness is too much for both of us."

"R-right." Looking back at the blackened Hero, he saw the Monster looking at them with a snarl... And then he jumped, his right hand extended toward him and he was going so fast that it seemed like he was flying. "S-sis!" He squeezed his right fist tight and created a black grenade on the palm and Infused his Aura into it, making it glow white, "Pivot 360-degrees to the left!"

"Alright~!" She pivoted in mid-air and he pulled back his right hand holding the grenade, rolling along in mid-air with Kyrke, faced the Monster of a Hero and threw the grenade at his face. It made impact with his face and exploded in black mass that glowed white, expeling enough force to disturb the Monstrous Hero's momentum and sent it falling back down. "Nice shot~!"

"Thanks! Fly higher please!" She did so, carrying him further up, away from the Monster of a Hero. "Okay, who are we going to get first?!"

"Anyone, really. This is Herakles, any help will-"

 _Jaune! Behind us!_

"H-hm?!" He turned and saw, just a few feet away from him, the head of a giant black serpentine being which mouth was enough to consume his whole body is wide open, ready to latch onto something... And it was aiming right at him. '...Shit.' He knew what needed to be done. He pulled Kyrke's arms and legs off of him and threw her forward. Then, he focused Anthea's mass to converge on his legs, expand them and hardening them, forming a big, thick slab of armor in the shape of a box, covering all of his lower body as if it was a Safe, one that was big enough to fill up the snake's opened maw.

"J-JAUNE!" Kyrke turned and reached for him, but he knew it was far too late.

He turned and look into her eyes, "GO! I'LL BE OKAAAAAAAA-!" The beast pulled him by his into the ground, dragged him to the point it created a trench. Guh! Anthea! Spike the Safe!'

 _Yup!_

Big sharp spikes protruded out of the 'Safe' that is latched onto his lower body, stabbing through the serpentine's head, up through its skull and down through its jaw. He twirled, the serpentine's head twisted along, "RRRAH!" he kicked both of his legs with all his strength, pulling its head off of its neck. 'Consume!' he reformed the Safe back into his legs as the beast's head is absorbed through Anthea. It flowed into his Mass, getting integrated with it... and his eyes widened. The information was flowing into him, unbidden and unprovoked, telling him what the beast was and its connection to the ancient Hero. "No way... How? How the hell-?"

 _Grimm are Conceptual Beings, remember? This Hero's victory over the beast defined him down to his soul, so... in a way... It's become a part of him._

He stood up and turned to the stump where the serpentine head used to be. He waited for a few second, ready for what felt like inevitability... But what he thought to be the inevitable never came to pass. He blinked his big white eyes as he realized what he just did. "...So... We've absorbed its power too, huh?"

 _...Hmm... Hmhmhmhm~!._ He could feel Anthea 'grinning'. _'Cut off one head, two more shall take its place'. Conceptual-based Regeneration... Yes, this will come in handy, far more useful than the poison. For now, we only have a weaker version of it, but given time, it will be much, much stronger to the point that you can even regrow your head if it's ever cut off._

The body of the serpentine Monster retreated as if it was being sucked in by something and from afar, at the far end of the serpentine Monster's body, was the Mad Hero that restored his left arm from having been turned into the legendary beast. '...Yeah, I don't think we have that much time.' Still though... 'Then again, we have no other choice but to fight. The guy's fast and strong, running will only delay the inevitable and we need to stick around when the cavalry gets here, so...'

 _Synchro Form?_

'Yes, but not now. Remember, Salem might be watching through him. Hell, she might be the one controlling him and not...' He scowled as burning hot anger coursed through him.

 _Jaune?_

'...This guy is a powerful Hero, Anthea.' One of the best amongst all of them. Herakles might not be as great of a King like Arthur or a Pioneer like Francis, but he loved hearing the tales of the Labors where the hero beat seemingly impossible odds. His story and the adversaries he faced was one of the things that kept him going when his parents told him to unlock his Aura on his own. 'And his body, powers and legend are being used like he was just a puppet, a tool... I want to put a stop to it.'

 _Hm. Then let's do this. What's the strategy?_

The Monster using the Hero's body walked forward, slowly, carefully. 'She must've sensed that I've eaten his Hydra aspect and gotten wary... But Herakles still has more up his sleeves, especially considering that he's been revived by Grimmification... Shit, whatever the Wizard did to reincarnate my sisters are better than this... He deserves better than this...'

 _Jaune, focus._

'...Right. Our strategy is to be... Well, as fast as we can possibly be. Dodging is the key, tanking hits from him won't-' Something caught his attention, coming from the darkened Hero. He narrowed his eyes and focused. The Hero's left eye... It flashed white for a second, casting off a glow that-

It happened again. He wasn't imagining it and that glow... He knew that glow. '...Anthea, can you feel us in him?'

 _...No... But I saw it too. That grenade... your Aura is infused into him. Maybe... Maybe the witch is able to withhold your influence to a degree. If we can actually consume him, then-_

'Let's find out.' He created another grenade in his right palm, infused it with his Aura... and the darkened Hero blurred into motion mid-way. "Shit!" He leaped and twirled as he jumped in an arc, going over the Hero who slashed his slab of a sword where he stood a second ago. He threw the grenade onto his face... "Agh!" And got his foot caught by the massive Hero who then slammed him onto the ground...

"Ooof!"

Over...

"Ahg!"

And over...

"Damn-ughk!"

And over...

"Sto-bhwog!"

 _Jaune it worked!_

And over...

"Fucking-ghk!"

And over...

'Fuck, this won't ever end!' He gritted his teeth and closed his eyes, changing his right arm into its Blade form... "RRRRAAAAAHHH!" And cut off his caught foot right above the ankle, severing it clean mid-swing, making him fly toward a nearby tree. He Clawed both of his hands and latched on to it. "FUCK THAT HURT!" Looking down, he saw the stump where his right foot used to be... and saw as it warped and shifted as it regenerated fully, bones, nerves, muscles, skin, black Grimm mass, everything in just a few seconds. "AAGH!"

 _Jaune, focus! The grenade has exploded and your Aura has seeped into him. However, it's being rendered inert, no doubt it's the witch's influence._

'...Alright then.' He put his feet against the tree bark, bent his knees and focused his eyes onto the corrupted form of the mighty Hero who threw the foot he had cut off over his shoulder. 'Defeat him through a thousand hits... Simple. But if it can use the creatures that he had beaten as a minion, then-' he stopped for a second, 'Wait, she knows that I can regenerate now... So that means-' Herakles' darkened body pulsed and warped, materializing into the furred skin of a certain animal he knew well that is wrapped over the Hero's shoulders... 'Great.'

 _What is it?_

'Nemean Lion skin, invulnerable to anything but the lion's own claws. If the Hydra's regeneration is Conceptual, then its invincibility would be too.'

 _Well then we'll just have to keep attacking it until its invincibility submits to our Unifying Power._

'...Right.' He smiled. If he and Anthea can consume and take over Hydra's Conceptual-based Regeneration, then beating similarly natured invincibility with his Aura with 'Power' as its nature, was possible. This was not a hopeless battle, he felt that he could win against the Hero who once won against a number of Olympian Gods, even one that embodied death, by using his strength.

It won't be easy even with the new powers he had just gotten though... He jumped down, landing with his knees bent and stood up. "...Yo. You're looking through his eyes, aren't you?" The Monster of a Hero growled, "You're using him as a puppet..." He scowled, "All for me. You're scared, aren't you? That's why you sent him as your Knight." He formed a mouth on his black mask-like face and grinned, "Thanks for giving me a new power by the way... You should've sent the Stymphalian Birds on me to test the waters first instead of using the Hydra, idiot."

Red glowing veins popped all over the Monster Hero's body before he exploded into motion, charging at him with the slab for a sword held high.

He warped Anthea's mass, changing some of its form into something that he had consumed. Eight long snake-like bodies, each longer than he was tall, thicker than his arms and topped off with serpentine heads the size of his head sprouted off his back and hissed as the fanged heads went for Herakles, catching the Monstrous Hero by his arms, feet, shoulders and necks and stopping him in his tracks. The blackened Herakles roared as he writhed and swung his slab-like blade, cutting off some of the heads off the necks.

Using the remaining snake-like bodies sprouting off his back as tentacles, he pulled himself closer. 'Coating, Reinforcing...!' He enhanced Anthea's mass with his Aura along with the tentacles increasing his physical capabilities further. He pulled his right hand back, closed the fingers into a fist and turn it into a Hammer Fist, "Hah!" sent the fist toward the Hero's face at a speed that heat up the air and hit the Hero's right cheek, 'Infusion!' His white glow seeped into the Hero through the fist and the serpentine heads latching onto the Hero's body, but it was not without consequences, 'Fuck!' his right hand pulsed in pain and he pulled back, avoiding a slash from the Hero's slab sword by extending his Hydra Tentacles, 'Even though I didn't directly punch the fur, the invincibility effect is still present? That's Nemean Lion hide for you!'

 _It's working though! We need to keep up the pace!_

'No need to tell me twice!' The cut off Hydra heads regenerated back without multiplying and latched onto the Hero again, onto his covered shoulders. 'Let's see how the Nemean Lion fare against Hydra venom Infused with my Aura!' From the fangs in the mouths of the heads that latched onto the fur, white glow seeped into the skin, cracking it apart and producing steam. 'What do you know? Hydra venom can pierce through Nemean Lion's invincibility! That's our ticket!'

The Greek Hero growled and swung his slab sword, rending the air with his swings and cutting off most of the serpentine Hydra heads. Jaune pulled back, elongating the two remaining Hydra bodies latched onto Herakles and swung his body around, using Herakles' body as an axis to get behind the Hero and then pulled himself again toward him and changed his hands into its Claw form. Tipping the claws in Hydra venom and infusing it with his Aura, he pierced the gigantic Hero's neck, regenerated back the cut off Hydra heads and have them latch onto the Hero again by his shoulders, wrapped four of them onto the Hero's arms and legs and tightened their hold with their fangs onto the Hero's shoulders, forearms and forelegs. 'Infuse...!'

His body glowed bright white and from where he was piercing the Hero with his claws and Hydra Heads' fangs, cracks that glowed white began to spread all over the Hero's body.

The Monstrous Hero roared and thrashed about wildly like a bucking horse. Jaune tightened his hold over him but he was facing the strength of a demigod who once upheld the sky in his shoulders. He could feel his Aura taking hold of the mighty Hero, but he needed more strength! 'Synchro... Form!' His body and mind warped and shifted, he grew bigger, more muscular, to the point that he... _they_ matched the Monstrous Hero's physique.

Two became one and it became easier to hold the Hero in place as the Hydra Tentacles also grew even bigger and stronger as they used their Grimm Mass and Aura in conjunction. The glowing white cracks spread all over the Hero's body and then, they felt it. They felt their dominance over the Hero's very being, over the witch's control. They grinned. **"Your influence over him ends now, witch! So says VENOM!"** Through their union with the Hero's being, they overpowered the witch's control and began to absorb him. The Hero roared and moved his arms... Only for said arms to stop and twitch. They had their hands on the control now. **"Thanks for remaking him out of Grimm mass! Now we won't have to feel guilty for eating him since you remade him into a monster, not a human being!"**

 ** _"Abomination!"_** A feminine voice echoed in their head.

 **"Ooooh! Someone's feeling angry! Oh by the way, hello pot, I'm kettle, have you ever seen yourself in the mirror before? Really, you should know better!"**

 ** _"What are you, you... wretched creature?! You should not exist!"_**

 **"Again, kettle, you should look at a mirror sometime."**

 ** _"What are you?!"_**

 **"We are Venom... the Bane of your existence!"** They released raw unshaped Mass that enveloped Herakles whole and proceeded to consume the Grimmified Hero faster, **"And for now... this is OV-!"** Mass of darkness sprouted off of the Hero's back like a big opened maw of a venus flytrap with them in it. **"What the-?!"** The mass was not theirs. They leaped off of the Hero, missing being devoured by a mass of Grimm mass with teeth and landed into a crouch ten meters away from the massive darkened Hero whose form was warping. **"Hmph! Still not giving up, huh...?"**

The massive mass that sprouted off of the Hero had turned into a big cocoon and from it, a gigantic boar that was at least three times the Hero's height emerged and let out a snort, a powerful breath that swayed the trees by its sheer force. **"...Erymanthian Boar...! Gods' Wrath itself!"** They grinned at the creature. The power that was now coursing through them... It was a new addition from their incomplete consumption of Herakles. They spread their arms wide. **"Well c'mon then!"**

The boar's glowing red eyes pulsed, honing in on their form... And it charged, the wind whistled and the earth shook in its wake, the embodiment of gods' wrath, natural disaster given form, was charging and they were its target.

They grinned as they put their arms up front, accepted the attack... And caught it by its tusks. **"HRRRNGK!"** The boar is stopped, but it continued to push against them as they held their ground, cracking the earth on where they stood as their feet and the boar's began to dig into the dirt. A big cracking line appeared between them and the boar, their struggle was causing the earth to quake and split right before their eyes. **"Herakles... Thanks... If it weren't for your strength... This boar would've gored us..."**

The power coursing through them was Herakles', the source of the Hero's unrivaled strength. Though it was not the full strength that the Hero possessed, they had consumed enough to have the strength to meet the embodiment of Gods' Wrath head on. The split on the ground between them and the boar widened further as they continued to struggle. They looked down, ssaw that the split had widened enough to form into a wide, deep ravine... And they smiled at the sight.

Calling forth their Aura to Reinforce themselves further... **"RRRRAAAAH!"** they lifted up the boar by its tusks, making the boar's hindlegs point up. Then, they slammed it down, stuffing it into the ravine with its behind first and stuck them in the crack, burying the boar halfway in and exposing its belly. With a huge soft spot right in front of them, they Clawed their hands, made them bigger with sharper, longer claws, took out their Hydra Bodies on their back, channeled their Aura all over their body and said, **"Oooorder up!"** They struck, stabbing the claws into the stomach, thrusting the Hydra Heads into the boar and ate the defenseless beast from inside out. **"Hah! Yet another-!"**

The sound of massive stomps and a shadow looming over them made them look up... Just as a giant spear was being thrust at them. **"Whoa!"** They turned their body and used two of the Hydra Heads as footing, completely dodging the spear that was longer than they were tall and they were already as tall as Herakles! **"...A Gigant!"** They remembered from Jaune's memories of Herakles' Labors, it was... **"Geryon!"** They looked up at the giant they knew to be a being who had three... three... **"...What the...?"**

They saw one big human head with a face that was a mish-mash of three different ones. Six eyes and nostrils that were all over with no sense of organization or even a semblance of order above its mouth that had no lips, showcasing its set of human-like teeth layered in three. Its eyes, though glowing red, were human-like and their nostrils were also human-like as was its mouth...

They knew that the giant is often said to have either three heads or three bodies, and considering it did have six arms wielding three spears and shields and six armored legs all on one body, the legend was right... But... **"...Gods you're ugly!"** One head with three faces that were set up into one so messily was worse!

The giant six times their size towering over the trees roared and thrusted yet another spear. They strafed to the left and leaped toward the gigantic being, carrying the remains of the boar they were still consuming and punched Geryon's twisted face, cracking and breaking many of its teeth. **"That face HAS to go first!"** They warped their right hand into a Whip, wrapped it around Geryon's neck and pulled themself toward its head. They pulled their left hand back and punched. **"Gods!"** The punch shattered the giant's cheekbone and many of its teeth, sending it tumbling down to the ground. The earth shook with its fall and they shot two Hydra Heads to the giant's neck, buried their fangs onto it and pulled themselves down to the face of the gigantic being lying on the ground... and punched it again.

The being's face caved in, the head now lied embedded on the ground surrounded by web-patterned cracks that spread far and wide to the point that it uprooted some trees. However, it was still breathing and parts of the face were still whole.

 **"Your face!"**

He punched again...

 **"Gives us!"**

And again...

 **"The creeps!"**

And again, turning Geryon's head into paste, burying said paste inside the crater that they've made with the strength of their punches.

They huffed and used the two Hydra Heads to consume the remains of the gigant while finishing up the boar. **"There... How the hell can that thing live with itself, looking like that...?"** A low growl echoed throughout the surrounding and they felt... **"...Hm... Is it getting cold in here or is it just us...?"** They turned to the source of the growl, coming from across the ravine they had made... And they felt a chill that went down to their soul.

There Herakles stood, the white cracks on his body were still glowing but much dimmer than before. However, his lower body has been changed, he no longer had two big but still human legs because from the hips, his legs had been replaced... By a different entity that had three canine heads in one gigantic body of a dog with a large collection of living snakes making up its manes and a giant living serpent as its tail...

The creature that has replaced Herakles' lower legs was emanating some unnatural coldness that turned the air misty, the grass on the ground where the dog was treading froze over... **"...You..."** They knew what they were seeing and what the cold represented... but this perversion, this twisted form of the great Hero combined with the last great beast that he bested was... **"He's nothing but a tool to you, huh...?"** They leaped over the ravine and walked over to Herakles' current form. **"Your personal Monster... We're going to take him away from your grasp, witch..."**

The Cerberus growled and so was Herakles, but they knew that it wasn't him who was expressing anger. The Cerberus Centaur Hybrid that Herakles became began to strafe to its right with all four heads, three canine and one man, staring at them and they strafed to the opposite side.

They and the guardian of the Underworld's gate circled each other. The coldness in the air that was affecting everything was no doubt the air of the Underworld, the place the Old Greek believed to be where the dead are sent after they die. Cerberus represented the Underworld's gate, the place that it guarded to keep the living back and to make sure the dead stays.

This was a monster that had a personal connection to the God and Guardian of the Underworld, Hades, Lord of The Dead, and thus, wherever it tread, the Underworld must also follow, even if it was just the air that permeated the realm because the beast have breathed in the Underworld's air for a very long time. They already felt the world changing around them but this was another battle they could not... _would not_ run away from.

This was not just a symbol of Gods Wrath, this was a Monster who lived, worked and thrived in the realm of the dead, a different kind of beast, a different kind of power, thus there must be a different way to deal with it. **"Alright then... Let's test something out!"** They lifted their arms high, made their hands into fists and slammed them onto the ground, cracking the ground, forming two craters and shook the earth, sending a wave of uprooted layers of dirt toward the beast. Then, massive fleshy barbed tendrils emerged from beneath the wave of uprooted dirt, wrapping themselves onto the Herakles-Cerberus hybrid... And Underworld's coldness started to freeze it over.

The Cerberus ate the tendrils piece by piece and they cut off their connection to the tendrils. **"Alright... While we're sure that our Aura can handle the cold, it's still a bit risky so we need to attack you from a bit away, hm?"** They grinned as a weapon design that combined two of the ones they had created beforehand flashed through their mind's eye, **"No problem!"** First were the swords, a pair, a twin, two black swords that were much smaller than the longsword type they had made before, the twin swords had short handles and short blades but they were curved and became bigger in size the further they were from the handles. Then, to complete them, there were the barbed whips connected to the grip and their wrists, two whips that they made very long to hang a bit loose.

 **"Unorthodox..."** They channeled their Aura into the Whip-Swords, making them glow bright white as they Coated and Reinforced them. They grabbed the Whip-Swords by the whips, swung and raised them to the left, taking them around 180 degrees around their back before bringing the swords down in a slamming arc, Infusing their Aura into the blade, making two long arcing wave that when landed, made an advancing pillar of flame-like white light that went toward the Cerberus, barging through the frozen tendrils and the chilling Underworld air and hit the Monster right on the middle-part of its three canine heads, causing the Herakles-Cerberus Hybrid to whine, actually _whine_ and stumble backward. **"But it's just what we need!"**

They swung the right Whip-Sword up, stretching it beyond its normal length, swung their right arm, drawing a half-circle in a 180 degrees, sending the short sword in a slashing motion toward the left canine head and pulled the Whip-Sword, turning the whip rigid for a moment and 'cracking' the short sword, slashing the canine's cheek and immediately pulling the sword away from the Herakles-Cerberus hybrid. **"There we go! Now how about this?!"** They lifted their left Whip-Sword by the whip, swung their left arm back, drawing an incomplete circle and let loose the Whip-Sword at the end, slashing the ground in an upward motion, letting loose another flame-like pillar of white light made out of their Aura to the beast's right canine head, making them stumble back. They pulled back the Whip-Sword, lifted them up and began to twirl them around.

They advanced, swinging their Whip-Swords all over, carving the ground piece by piece, hacking and slashing the nearby trees and attacking the Herakles-Cerberus Hybrid by sending pillars of flame-like white light through slashing the ground with the Whip-Swords' blades. **"Death by a thousand cuts...! Come on now!"** They slashed the air with both Whip-Swords crossing each other, sending a wave of X-shaped light of their Aura to the hybrid. **"C'mon now!"** They pulled back the Whip-Sword, leaped and twirled and slammed the blades back down, shooting another pillar of white light to the hybrid that once again _whined_ **"C'MON! FIGHT BACK! WHAT'S THE MATTER WITH YOU?!"**

The canine heads bared their teeth and roared, blasting out three intersecting waves of unnatural cold air that froze the grass and fogged the surroundings. **"Whoa!"** They leaped back, reaching ten meters before they shot the right Whip-Sword to the right one of the three canine heads... and had the short sword move its tip away from where it would land, making it so that it did not stab the dog's head but to circle the whip around the dog head's neck. Tightening the whip, it became a barbed noose on the canine head's neck. They back-flipped, landed on the ground and pulled the Whip-Sword with all the mightiness they had gotten from Herakles... **"Heave HOOOOOO!"**

The neck caved in to the pressure, cut by the sharp barbs rending flesh and cutting bone that fought off the Underworld Air's effect... And three heads became two as the remaining dog heads let out a howl. Through the barbs that pierced the dog head's neck, they began to consume it. **"Not gonna give you time to REST!"** They raised their left Whip-Sword up and threw it to the left dog head... that opened its jaw and ate it. The coldness of the Underworld seeped out of the mouth, fully intent to freeze them whole... And their body did not freeze immediately. **"Heh! Not very effective now, doggo!"**

The Cerberus head opened its mouth to let the Whip-Sword out... And the whip's barbs exploded, becoming bigger and sharper, piercing through the inside of its mouth, through them, they began to consume the head and the body... And the center dog head opened its jaw, turned to the left, bit the left head and tore it off. **"Whoa..."** They pulled on the head and consumed it through the barbs. **"Alright, that's ni-"** Herakles raised the slab sword over his head with both of his hands, the tip pointing at the center canine head... And threw.

The slab-sword pierced through the canine head from top to bottom, splitting the head in half and exploded each half into tiny pieces. The slab-sword went further, piercing through the ground, splitting the ground, tearing several layers of dirt apart in a web pattern, uprooting trees, toppling them down as it went deeper and deeper before stopping, embedded to the ground as if it were a tombstone.

 **"...You're still there..."** The darkened Hero glared at him but he was no longer baring his teeth. His eyes were still the menacing, glowing red but... Flickers of white glow flashed like stars in the red skies that were Herakles' eyes. **"No... We pulled you back. You..."** Their eyes widened. The Cerberus didn't fight as much as it should... And now it was clear to them as to why that was. **"You helped us."** Herakles' visage twitched, as did his body. He was fighting it the best he could and that last attack... **"...Alright... We'll finish this."** Herakles nodded... before he bared his teeth and growled.

They nodded, pulling back the Whip-Sword. There was only one way this would end. They turned the Whip-Swords into a pair of gigantic Claws and warped the mass covering their arms by trying to make the arms bigger but keeping their form stable at the same time, two conflicting actions that made their whole body shook as if they were a bomb ready to explode, and that was the plan.

Herakles roared and he advanced, using what remained of his headless Cerberus lower body, the clawed lion-like paws of Underworld's Guardian cracked the ground as the body leaped and sprinted toward them, carrying the Herakles rooted onto its back. Nothing remained of the Hero but what the witch wanted him to do and what she wanted him to do was to finish them off decisively with sheer brute force.

 **"Come, witch! COME!"** Their arms vibrated, warping as the Mass became unstable, unraveling itself by the seconds as the darkened Herakles continued to advance. One thundering step is followed with another and another and another... And then... **"RRRAH! Critical! MAAASSS!"** They stabbed the ground and released their Unstable Mass in a wave of multiple layers of gigantic sharp blades riddled with glowing white veins the size of tall trees protruding from the ground, stabbing the form that Herakles had become from top to bottom, riddling and filling its body with blades.

The blades connected them to Herakles' form, even in a grisly manner and from them, they began to consume Herakles' inside and out. They pulled back the blades, Herakles' twisted form and all, back into their mass, consuming it down to their rawest component and concepts, taking what made it powerful, overpowering the witch's influence with the nature of their combined Aura and Grimm Mass, their 'Unifying Power'.

As the last of the Mass that they have used to create the gigantic protruding blades retreated back into them, they let out a huff and put their hands on their hips. **"NOW it's over."** Then, in front of their eyes, the world shifted, changing into an expanse of white all over. **"...Hm?! Where...?!"** They looked around... and stopped when they saw that they were not the only one. **"...Yo."** they said to the massive Hero in front of their eyes, the Hero whose form is no longer darkened though for some reason, his skin was dark gray in color, almost metallic. **"...We've eaten you, right? So is this... inside our mind?"**

The massive Hero whose skin was now gray instead of pure dark nodded.

 **"You're a lot calmer... I guess the witch isn't controlling you anymore, huh?"** Herakles nodded and bowed his head a bit, **"Good, though don't bow, we only did what was necessary."** Herakles straightened his back, smiled and nodded, "... **Can't you talk though?"**

 **"Sl...ightly..."** The hero said, his voice sounded like two rough rocks being grinded on each other.

 **"Ah. The witch locked you in your uh..."** Necessary information flowed into their mind... **"Berserk form, is it?"**

 **"Y...es."**

 **"Hm. So uh..."** They crossed their arms, unsure on how to proceed. **"How you doin'? You don't mind that we ate you, right?"**

The Hero scoffed and shook his head. **"Ne...cessary..."**

 **"Right, no hard feelings?"** The Hero nodded and they raised their right hand, **"Good cause' we're a big fan. We... Well, Jaune, our half, grew up hearing Heroic tales, one of which is yours. He loves your adventures."** The massive Hero's eyebrows rose up but there was a smile on his face, faint as it was. They shrugged, **"Thought you ought to know. Anyway, so uh... Did you bring us here?"**

 **"Y...es."**

 **"Huh, didn't know that's even possible. How?"**

Herakles smirked.

 **"...Right, you're not just physically strong, your mind is also freakishly strong, huh...?"**

 **"You... are different."**

They blinked. **"...Yeah, thanks for noticing."**

The Hero shook his head, **"Light... and Dark... united. You're... not supposed... to exist."**

 **"Jeez, you too?"**

 **"You... are the key..."**

 **"...The key?"**

 **"The key... to end... this... parody."**

They frowned as they began to connect the dots to try and make a picture out of them. Light and Dark... How their existence was not supposed to be... What did he mean by 'parody' though? **"...What are you-"** Herakles' form began to fade. **"Wait! What are you talking about?!"**

 **"Wizard..."** The left half of his body disappeared, fading into nothingness, **"Witch... are-"** His middle part faded, taking his head and his mouth away but his right arm moved even as it was fading, making the hand into a fist with the thumb locked by the curled index finger. He, with just the right arm, raised his curled hand up, flicked a thumbs up, uncurled his fingers and turned the palm to face up... And then said arm disappeared into nothingness.

The world shifted around them and they found themself back in the forest. The Hero was no longer in front of them, they felt him having been fully consumed. It was over, _truly_ over for them and the Hero.

"Jaune...?" They turned at the sound of a familiar voice. There, standing on the uneven ground around them, was Jeanne, Jaune's twin sister, looking up at him with wide eyes and mouth agape. "I-is that... really you? Kyrke... Kyrke brought me here..."

They looked around and saw Jaune's petite pink-haired older sister far behind Jeanne. She waved at them with a smile and they raised their right hand to wav- **"Hm?"** Jeanne took a step back, her Bannered Sword-tipped Pole held at the ready with both of her hands. They put down their hands and let out a sigh as they separated themselves into two.

Jaune felt his body shrinking as his mind split off from Anthea's. Anthea's mass was still clinging to him from top to bottom and considering that Jeanne had not seen him clad in the 'costume', he peeled off the mask, exposing his face. "It's me, Jeanne." He blinked. Something... didn't feel right, he did shrink, right? So...

"...You've... gotten taller."

Looking down at himself, he found that Jeanne was correct... He stood taller than before and... Was he more muscular now? It seemed so at least. "Yeah... I uh... I ate a really big meal..." He smiled... but Jeanne didn't laugh, she was in a daze as she stared at him, "Jeanne, it's still me." He sighed and changed his 'costume' into something more casual, white short-sleeved t-shirt, a pair of blue jeans and a pair of black shoes. "Really."

Jeanne closed her eyes, took a deep breath and nodded. Her shoulders slumped a bit as she put her weapon down, embedding it on the ground, causing it to disperse into golden particles that went into her. She then clasped her hands together. "...I know. In my heart of hearts, I know that, but... my eyes saw things differently. I'm sorry, Jaune."

He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her close. She relaxed in his embrace and he patted her on the back. "Don't apologize, I know what that form looks like." His Synchro Form looked just as monstrous as any Grimm even without the red eyes, it was a no-brainer that Jeanne would be afraid and assumed the worst. "How much of the fight did you see?"

"Just... Just some of it." He felt her tilting her head up and he looked down to meet her eyes, "I first saw you fighting that massive boar. Kyrke had me watch from afar, your battle was very destructive after all... Kyrke told me that that humanoid Grimm was you, so I wanted to help, but she held me back, telling me that you got it handled." She frowned and turned to Kyrke who had her hands behind her as she approached them, "She even created Aura chains to stop myself from wriggling off of her."

"Everything ended well, didn't they, Jeanne?" Kyrke said before she turned to him with a wide smile, "I thought that you might needed help, but it seems I underestimated you, Jaune~ Beating a Knight as powerful as that... You're a force to be reckoned with."

He couldn't help but to let out a chuckle, "Nah, that wasn't all me..." He frowned at the last action that the Hero did, the act that sealed his and Anthea's victory, "I had the power to match him but even then... I had to be helped a bit." He shook his head, "How's the Grimm Incursion? Is it over?"

"Um..." Jeanne pulled back a bit, reached to a pouch she carried tied to her lower back and took out her Scroll. "Ah, yes. It seems to be over, the last of the Grimm are retreating from Virginia, the Incursion's been pushed off completely."

"Well, everyone's here after all, three-hundred Grimm won't be a problem." He said before sighing, "Our house is destroyed though... Split into two and everything."

"Hmm... That would pose a lot of problem..." Jeanne sighed, "That Knight you fought was strong... Even from afar, I could feel its strength and the witch's influence... Who was it, Kyrke?"

"Herakles."

"...Ah." She nodded to herself as she reached out her right hand to his left and grabbed it tight, "I'm so glad you're alright..."

He couldn't help but to laugh a bit. "Heh, worry about me less, Jeanne."

"I can't, you know that." She said, her gaze blazing with righteous fire.

"...I know." Jeanne had always been kind and loving. And knowing who Jeanne used to be, who she was supposed to be, it only made even more sense. The Saint Jeanne of Arc... "Still," He pinched her cheek a bit, making her let out incoherent mumbling. "I'm your older brother, you know?" Reincarnation of a Saint or not, she was still his younger sister even if it was just by a few minutes, "Worry about me less please, little sis."

She pouted, pulled his hand off her cheek and slapped him on the chest... And he didn't even feel it. Jeanne huffed as she rubbed her right hand with a small smile. "...You are still you, after all... I'm glad."

"Are you two done~?" Kyrke's voice straightened his back. He turned to her and in the corner of his eyes, he saw his twin looking at Kyrke with pink cheeks. Kyrke lifted her Scroll and shook it a bit, "I've messaged everyone that our house is destroyed so for the moment, we're going to rendezvous in the Town Hall instead and maybe stay the night there."

"A-ah, right." Jeanne nodded before she turned to look at him in the eye, "Jaune... I know this will be a bit difficult, but... I think everyone in our family should know the extent of your control over Grimm Mass and the powers it give you. You can defeat a Knight and-"

"I'm already planning on telling them, Jeanne." There was no way that he was not going to, He frowned and looked back at the destruction his and Anthea's fight with Herakles had caused. Their battle had toppled trees, cracked the earth, gouged out craters and even created a completely new ravine that stretched for quite the distance, a small canyon that exposed the layers of dirt beneath. "All of this must've been felt, there's no way that it's not."

"Hm, that _is_ true."

"And besides..." there was the last moments the Hero showed him in their mind flashing in his mind's eye, he understood what the Hero was trying to tell him and what it meant... "I _have_ to tell them." The implications of what the Hero 'said' was something that occupied his mind a bit...

"...Jaune?"

He shook his head and turned to Kyrke, "Sis, can you take us to Virginia then?"

"Hmm~ Not both of you, no. One by one, maybe."

"Well... alright then, I guess we're walking."

"Nope." Kyrke pointed at him, "Summon the piglet that you ate before. We're going to use it as a ride."

The piglet... That mighty Erymanthian Boar... being called a piglet. He couldn't help but to snort, "*snrk* Alright." He closed his eyes and connected himself to Anthea, 'Can you take that form?'

 _Hmmmm... Yes, but not as big as it should. It would be more than enough to take you three though._

'Alright then, let's do it.' He went deeper, feeling up the existence, the concept of the Boar within him, contained in Anthea and pulled it out. He felt it materializing from his legs, forming itself into a puddle that then sprouted into a big, black wild boar with a height of at least three times his current human size and the proportional length, looking similar to how it was before, but with white blank eyes instead of glowing red.

"W-wha...?"

'Huh, that's strange.' He could see... But he could still feel that his eyes were closed. 'Ah, I'm seeing through the boar's eyes too. Nice.' He opened his human eyes and turned his head to his sisters down below as he was standing on top of the boar. Though he could see them just fine, it got a bit overlapped by the boar's eyes that were not looking at them. 'The discrepancy would have to take some time to get used to though.'

 _It'll pass quickly, don't worry._

'Right.' He cleared his throat, "Ahem!" and spread his arms wide, "Ladies, please, step right up."

A few minutes later, he found himself sitting on the back of the massive wild boar with his legs and arms crossed... To keep Jeanne, who was sitting on his lap, steady by hugging her tight.

"Whoohoo! Go that way, piglet!"

Kyrke had chosen her seat right on top of the boar's snout in front of them, acting as if she was a living figurehead/boar rider pointing her fingers and shouted where the boar needed to go. Again she called the boar piglet despite its massive size and how it's supposed to be the embodiment of Gods' Wrath.

'Then again, she's _that_ Circe...' It made sense really, she was powerful, not in the same sense as Herakles was, but powerful nonetheless.

"T-this... Not even the wildest horse I've ridden is this rowdy..." Jeanne said as she held his forearms tightly as if they were the handlebars of a motorcycle. "N-Not even Liz's ship is this shaky...!"

"Well it _is_ a boar." And in the legends, the boar was a particularly wild and powerful one that was the bane of every farmland. A normal wild boar, even one that had Aura, was already rowdy enough. "It _is_ fast though." He could already see the Frontier Town Virginia close by. "Though... I think we should stop now, don't you think, si-?"

"Aaal~right! Stop here~!" He pulled the boar's 'reins' at Kyrke's command, letting it skid against the ground into a full stop. "Ah, that was fun~! It's been a while since I rode a proper piglet."

"Only you would call this giant boar a piglet, sis." He grabbed Jeanne by his hips, flipped her to carry her in his arms and leaped off the boar, landing on the ground and fully absorbing the impact without even shaking his legs. "Drop down please."

"Alright~" She leaped, spread her wings and landing like a bird floating down. "Phew~ Alright." She nodded and walked ahead.

He called off the boar, letting the Mass seep into him and walked, following Kyrke.

"Um... Jaune? Can you drop me please? I'm not hurt..."

"Ah, sorry sorry." He said as he gently put her down on her two feet, prompting his twin sister to walk briskly to Kyrke who grinned as she reached up and pinched Jeanne on her right cheek. He followed his two sisters a couple of feet behind them. 'Hm... I wonder if she would accept you like Kyrke had, Anthea...'

 _Hm... Does her knowing about me matters that much to you?_

'Well, if we're going to be together for... Well, indefinitely... Then I want my sisters to know and accept you just as they accept me.'

 _...I... matter to you that much, Jaune?_

'Well of course. If it weren't for you, I wouldn't be able to do the things we can do together. Without you, I wouldn't have unlocked my Aura. Without you in me, fighting Herakles wouldn't have been possible. You've really raised me up, you know? Because of that, I want the rest of my sisters to accept you like Kyrke did.'

 _...Hm. Thank you. Though, even if they didn't like me, as long as I'm with you, I'll be alright._

'Not that we can ever be separated, right?'

 _True, but your sentiment... Hmhm~_

The warm, fuzzy feeling came from within him, starting from the center of his chest and he knew that it wasn't fully his feeling that was spreading the warmth. 'Well... Out of everyone who will accept, Jeanne would be the easiest to accept this, she's a...' He held in the snort that was about to come out of him, 'A _saint_ like that.'

 _Was that a pun? ...Hehehe._

'Thank you, I'll be with you for all of eternity.' He didn't stop the edges of his lips from stretching into a smile, 'As for the others... Arturia will have a hard time swallowing it, so would Elizabeth... Despite their different temperaments, they're actually quite similar to each other on a lot of things. Flora would... Well, she would force me into a full-body examination until she's satisfied that you're not harmful no doubt.'

 _...You don't seem scared of that._

'Well it wouldn't be the first time. Claudia would be more curious than anything while Galea would... Well...' He looked around as he had stepped into the well-paved roads of the town of Virginia, the Frontier Town that was the closest in proximity to the Wilds. 'Galea would accept things the way it is but she wouldn't stop worrying about it. In a way, she's similar to Flora, a bit of a busybody... But then again, she's... Hm, she's supposed to be Galahad, huh...?'

 _From the memories of the stories you've heard, isn't Galahad supposed to be a man? And on that matter, isn't King Arthur, Pioneer Francis Drake and Nero Claudius are supposed to be men? Why are they all women?_

'...Maybe the reincarnation ritual's a bit flawed? I mean, I'm not supposed to be born after all.' He followed Kyrke and Jeanne through the opened gate that bore the town's name. On the integrated walls, the guards of the wall were going around and all over and when he entered the town itself, he saw the Aura-wielding deputies around, mingling with the civilians with no tension of any kind in the air.

 _...By the way, it seems that the three-hunded Grimm didn't even manage to touch this place._

'Yeah...' Thanks to his link with Anthea, he could feel if there as ever a tension in the air... and the lack of it in his surroundings despite the fact that there was a Grimm incursion meant that it was completely thwarted. 'Well, that's my family for you. They're _really_ good at what they do. And considering who my sisters are, it makes complete sense.'

 _I see I see..._

As he walked behind his two sisters, he watched from a bit away as people around them nod at them with a smile.

"Miss Jeanne, thank you for protecting us."

"Miss Kyrke! Let's have a drink again sometime!"

"Miss Jeanne Arc~! Can I see your banner again?!"

"Thank you for your service to the town~!"

From the civilians to the Aura-wielder deputies, they were all drawn to Kyrke and Jeanne, they were all happy at seeing them and he knew why of course. After all, they had been very active as the protector of the town, especially Jeanne, so it was no surprise that they would know who his sisters were by sight.

"By the way, who's that blonde dude? He looks familiar somehow."

"Isn't that John Arc's son? John Jr. or something?"

"Nah, that kid's skinny, he's not that tall or that muscular."

He smiled at that particular comment. Even though he might not be known, at least people noticed that he was taller and more muscular now.

"He looks just like Mr. John though..."

With that, he lost his smile. His parents... John and Lily Arc...

 _Have you forgiven them, Jaune?_

'...Not exactly.' He scowled. When Kyrke explained their deal, he was so swept by everything that was being revealed that he couldn't help but to feel bad about them. However... 'I get why they did what they did.' That still didn't change. He could put on their shoes, so to speak, 'I get where they're coming from, I get why they chose to just not train me, but that doesn't make what they did okay.'

 _...Hmm... I... kind of get it. Just a bit though..._

He sighed and shook his head, 'I'll make it as simple as possible then: I sympathize with them, I understand their mindset, but they're still in the wrong and I haven't forgiven them.'

 _So... what are we going to do?_

'When it comes to them? Nothing. I don't like them, but there's no need to make trouble with them. Besides... After I tell them about our Synchro Form and what we can do with Grimm Mass, I'm not sure if they would even think of me as their own son again.'

 _But..._

'What?'

 _When your father said that he would like to train you moments ago... He was genuine, you know?_

'...Yeah, so?'

 _...You accept me as is and you want your family to do so too despite of what I am. If you're not a reincarnated Hero, then that trait must've come from either of your parents._

...Sometimes, he hated how he could put on other people's shoes at the drop of a hat. '...So you're saying I should not be too harsh on them?'

 _Just do it a little less._

'...Fine, but only because you asked me to.' He felt the thrill coming from within his chest and relaxed. Looking ahead, he saw that the Town Hall was now close by. It was a three-story building made out of stone and mortar that spread wide instead of stretching to the back. It had a tower at the upper center side of the front side that housed a big old bell that is carved with lines that formed some form of old symbols that, even now, were glowing.

 _...What is that, Jaune?_

'That's Virginia's Grand Bell. It's one of the Wizard's tool for Frontier Towns like this one. When it's rung, it will let out a pulse of light that will obliterate all Grimm but it will disappear after that one use, the carved lines-

 _Runes._

'...Runes, will have to be redrawn if it's ever used. It's basically the last resort if Virginia were ever to be threatened by a literal flood of Grimm that can't be held back.'

 _I see... This Wizard is... the counter to the witch, yes? Where Witch has the Grimm, The Wizard has his Aura-wielders._

'Basically.' He had learned about the Wizard from his parents and sisters but he had never met the man before, only hearing secondhand stories of him. However, he knew that the Wizard was responsible for creating Beacon City and as such, responsible for uniting Aura-wielders to work for the force of good and spread humanity around Remnant and one of the fruits of that work was Frontier Towns like Virginia.

 _But... What Herakles told us..._

'Yeah...' He followed his sisters to the Town Hall, going through the lobby for the public and straight up the stairs. Kyrke and Jeanne passed by the two guardsmen guarding the bottom of the big stairs leading to the second floor, he followed them... and the two guardsmen raised their hands and barred his way.

"I'm sorry sir, but only authorized personnel are allowed beyond this point."

He blinked. In his peripheral vision, he saw his sisters stopping and turning to him. He opened his mouth... But Jeanne beat him to the punch, she came back down and cleared her throat, "Ahem. Excuse me, good sirs? He is our brother, let him pass."

"...Very well Miss." One of the guardsmen said as he along with the other moved to the sides, opening the way, "Apologies for the mistake, sir." The guardsman said with a rather deep bow.

He waved his hand dismissively, "Eh, it's alright." At the very least the one guy was professional and apologetic about it. He walked past them and Jeanne walked beside him to his left, matching his pace while Kyrke simply smiled and resumed her walk.

"I didn't know the Arcs had a son..."

He couldn't stop his left eye from twitching. The other guardsman wasn't as professional to whisper that within earshot and he must've been new, freshly sent from Beacon City. If his senses weren't much sharper than before, that comment wouldn't have been heard and maybe that was what the guardsman thought too.

He felt a delicate feminine hand touching his left one. Looking to Jeanne, he saw her smiling at him, not out of amusement but in a manner that she would often do whenever she wanted him to smile back... And he couldn't help but to smile back. The sight of her smile reached into his heart...

"Ow! What was that for?!"

"For being an idiot."

Hearing the sound of the professional guardsman berating the other also helped. With Jeanne's hand in his, he along with her and Kyrke walked through the second floor and into the main office, also guarded by two guardsmen who opened the door for them all.

The room he, Jeanne and Kyrke entered was a big living room with opulent soft sofas and chairs surrounding a long and wide coffee table on top of a colorful rug. There was a big Scroll TV on the corner, a coffee machine, some beer keg and there was even an electronic bell designed to call for a maid or butler to come and serve.

"Ah, you're here." His father John said, nodding at him, Kyrke and Jeanne. His father was sitting at the head of the table in a smaller couch alongside Lily while his sisters were on the couch to the sides. "Please, sit down." Kyrke took a seat on one of the couches to the sides of the coffee table while he closed the door behind them, let go of Jeanne and went and took an empty spot on the couch across his parents with Jeanne taking a seat right beside him. "Are you all alright?"

"We are. Still, considering that a Knight landed in our backyard, the fact that all of us made it out in one piece is an achievement." Kyrke's words made everyone tense up immediately.

"A... A Grimm Knight?" Arturia said, her green eyes wide, "For it to break into the barrier must've meant that-"

"Yup, it was sent by the witch personally from the moon. It turned into one of the most powerful being that has ever walked the planet... But I didn't defeat it." She flourished her left arm to him, a grandiose gesture that she did for him with a smile on her face, "Jaune did."

Everyone's eyes, save for Kyrke's and Jeanne's were onto him. "...Yeah." He said.

"Kyrke, what form did the Knight take?" His father said.

"Herakles."

"WHAT?!" Elizabeth turned to him with wide eyes, " _That_ Herakles?! She used Herakles?! And you..."

"Yeah." Everyone's eyes were on him now and they were staring at him with either awe, shock or in Claudia's case, with sheer glee. He understood why though. Just a day ago, he had yet to unlock his Aura and here he was now, riding the fumes of his victory of one of the mightiest Heroes of very ancient times. "And if you're wondering how, well..."

He fell silent. This was it. He was going to tell them that his Grimm Mass was more than just clothes that he could shapeshift. He needed to start things off with something simple and not at all harmless... So materializing weapons and sharp things were no-no. 'Anthea... When we get to our Synchro Form, let's change things up. I have an idea for a different form but first... we need to use 'I' instead of we.'

 _Right. While we're on that, should I emulate Herakles' form a bit?_

'We can do that now huh? Alright, let's do that but not too much.' He stood up and inhaled, taking a long, deep breath as he gave Anthea the mental images. 'Got all of that?'

 _Got it. By the way, the symbol on the chest... Is that ours?_

'Yup. How do you feel about that?'

 _I like it~_

'Alright... Here goes. Let's start slow.' He looked at his family members, their eyes were on him and he looked back to the door. "Is this room sound-proofed? There are no cameras or bugs here, right?" His father shook his head and looking at his mother and sisters shaking their heads as well, he nodded. "Alright then. It's best if nothing about this gets out." He spread his arms. "Alright, have you... noticed something different about me?"

"...Now that you say it..." Elizabeth's eyes were narrowed as she stood up, approached him... and she had to tilt her head up a bit to meet his eyes. "...You've gotten bigger, haven't you?" She then patted his shoulders, his chest, his arms... "Wait... You've also gotten a _lot_ more muscles than before... Did the Grimm Mass do this to you? How-?"

"Grimm Mass?" Looking over at his father and the others, he saw that his parents and two younger sisters' eyes were wide. "What is this about Grimm Mass?"

"...Ah that's right, you didn't know, did you?" Looking at Elizabeth, Arturia and Flora, he saw their cheeks reddened a bit, "And then all of you had gotten busy with the Grimm Incursion that you didn't tell them..." He huffed. He completely forgot about that. "Then again..." He stared his father in the eye, "The first thing you did when you came home was telling me to show my Aura and then things just... went out of control. Sorry, that was my bad."

"Brother!" Claudia shot up from her seat with her eyes still wide open... and her irises sparkling. She extended her opened left hand to him and with a big smile, she said; "Am I right to assume that you have tamed the Darkness that is Grimm and have made it a part of you by dominating it using the light of your soul?"

"...Kind of, yeah." It was only half-right, but... The fact that Claudia can come up to such a close conclusion just by mere mention of Grimm Mass was...

"Umu! Umu Umu! As expected~! After all, the nature of your Aura is Unifying Power, it only makes sense!"

"Brother...?" Galea stood up, "You have taken Grimm Mass into you?"

"Yeah, it's my Semblance. Unifying Power. And... The reason I won against Herakles is that I use Grimm Mass I have taken to enhance myself further... Like so." It was time. He took a deep breath as he moved away from them for a few feet. 'Anthea, let's do it.'

Two minds became one and their body grew bigger, taller, more muscular. Their body is then covered with black amorphous mass that then transformed, becoming one sheer bodysuit that had extra additions to it: Their big blank white eyes were now sleeker while their mouth is no longer visible, making their face look more like a mask than a human face with big alien-like eyes without a nose. On their forearms were protruding vambraces while on their forelegs, there were a pair of boots, the two pair of 'armors' gleamed like metal, making them look different than the bodysuit altogether.

Completing the bodysuit and 'armor' were glowing white accents are engraved upon the sheer bodysuit and there was a symbol on the center of their chest: An upside-down black crescent moon enveloped by a bigger white sun, their personal symbol, their sigil. From Herakles, they used the Hero's swept-back long hair that floated as if it was being pushed by wind, and made it glow bright white, making it look like a white flame being kept afloat by a non-existent gust of wind.

 **"So...?"** They said, spreading their arms, **"How do I look?"** They said, fighting off the compulsion to use 'we' instead. It was... surprisingly easy.

"...My..." Claudia let out a gasp, "My my my..." She cupped her chin as she approached them, her eyes intense. Two inches away from touching them, she walked around and looked at them up and down "Hmmmm... Umu... Darkest black as the base, glowing white accents to contrast it and the symbol... An eclipse, but it represents how darkness is enveloped by light, a state of duality where both co-exist, yes?"

 **"Yup. I knew you would get that immediately, sis."**

She puffed her chest out and put her hands on her hips, "Hmhm~! I _am_ the only true artist out of all of us~! Such an apt symbol to represent you and your power, dear brother."

 **"Why thank you."** Looking over at the others, they saw that his parents and sisters save for Kyrke were now standing up.

"Jaune, this form... Is it...?"

 **"Yup."** They gave Jeanne a nod, **"I've absorbed Herakles."** They then traced their right hand over their floating glowing white hair, **"So I got his hair. I changed it up a bit, pretty cool, huh?"**

"You've... absorbed Herakles, huh?" Liz was looking at him up and down with her arms crossed.

 **"Uh-huh. Got some power-up from him and the beasts he'd beaten. They're a part of me too now."**

"So that Grimm Mass... It's not just shape-shifting clothes, it's also... some form of boost?"

 **"Yeah."** Arturia's eyes looked... She was looking at them with fear and concern, **"Unifying Power, Artie."**

"Unifying Power or not, this cannot be healthy _or_ sterile." Flora approached them with a gleam in her eyes. "You need to be _thoroughly_ examined."

 **"Uh..."** They raised their hands, **"let's not do that now, Flora..."**

"Don't worry everybody, it's all under control."

"Sister Kyrke..." Galea's voice was quiet but it called everyone's attention to her, "Can you swear on that? Can you swear that our brother is fine and not at all under the control of the darkness within him?"

"Yes, Galea. On my life, I swear that."

"...Fine." Galea's form was tense as she tilted her head down. "Fine. Brother..." Galea looked at them in the eye without flinching, "What will you use this power for?"

Looking at Jaune's younger sister's purple eyes, they saw nothing but raw determination to know the answer to her question. Galea was not driven by curiosity like her sister Claudia was, but by a desire to understand where they, Jaune, stood. **"...Hopefully, I can use my power for the good of others. Maybe I can... hunt and dominate the whole Grimmkind and... send them out to outer space or something, that'll solve a _lot_ of problems in Remnant right now, wouldn't it?"**

He heard laughter coming from... Jaune's mother. Lily Arc was laughing and smiling despite how tense the room was, "Sorry... It's just... All of this... Is a lot to take in. Jaune, you... Do you realize what this all means for... For everything?"

 **"...Kind of. I mean, nobody's ever believed that something can be _part-_ Grimm unless you count those anti-Faunus people. My existence changes things, I know that much."**

"That's putting it _very_ lightly, Jaune." His father said, "Having an abundant amount of powerful Aura is one thing, but... To be able to absorb and dominate Grimm Mass like that... I won't be able to train you with this whole thing."

 **"Not that I've accepted your offer from before, but go on, what are you trying to say?"**

His father winced and let out a sigh, "...I will have to send you to Beacon to meet the Wizard. There's no other choice, this... This goes beyond my jurisdiction and I'm duty-bound to call him and inform him of you before sending you to Beacon."

They nodded. **"Alright... I always wanted to go and meet the guy. There are so many things I want to ask."** Oh so many things... The message that Herakles had given to them was simple really, one sentence that implied that there was a big scheme, involving everything that went on in the world, something that Herakles claimed to be a parody.

Though Herakles didn't manage to _say_ his sentence, his final gesture was simple and universal, something that they understood without needing to think hard on it. What the Hero did in his last moments within their mind was to mime a coin toss. Thus, the sentence that he was trying to complete was...

'The Wizard and The Witch are like a single coin.' And a coin must always have two sides to it, so the underlying message he was trying to impart was: 'The Wizard and The Witch are two sides of the same coin.'. And after meeting and antagonizing the witch, they wanted to see the other side of said coin and truly figure out what Herakles meant by 'parody' and how they were the key to end it...

 **To be Continued...**

 **Decided to go with a new form for the Synchro Form that somewhat emulates Herakles' appearance, especially the hair.**

 **The Lore of this story, especially with how Earth became Remnant, will be revealed in time... And by 'in time' I mean next chapter. Jaune will be going off to see the wizard, the wonderful wizard of Beacon City.  
**

 **Next time: Beacon City and The Wizard in The Tower.**


End file.
